Board: Minot selectmen

Met: Monday night

Tax rate

Issue: Selectmen set the 2007-08 property tax rate at $15 per $1,000 of valuation.

The scoop: Since this year’s property tax rate is $14.30, a property valued at $100,000 will see a $70 increase in the tax bill, and for a property valued at $200,000, the bill will be up $140. Selectmen noted that the increase reflects actions voters took at March town meeting when they approved spending increases on the town and school sides of the budget at $43,492 and $114,361, respectively.

Up next: Property tax bills will be mailed in September with payment due by Jan. 15.

Back taxes

Issue: With the resignation of Tax Collector/Town Clerk Nikki Verrill, responsibility for collecting back taxes needed to be reassigned.

The scoop: Selectmen signed a certification of recommitment naming Town Administrator Rhonda Irish as the agent for collecting $38,900 in taxes owed from 2005 and 2006. Selectmen commended Verrill for leaving such a small balance in taxes due and publicly thanked her for her 16 years of service to the town.

Park access

Issue: The need to protect the town’s investments in new walking trails and athletic fields.

The scoop: Selectmen noted the need to post the town’s walking trail network, forbidding motorized vehicles from using them, and to place restrictions on the time when the public is allowed to use the athletic field in Minot’s old Memorial Park and in the new Community Park.

Up next: Irish was directed to see that signs are installed forbidding motorized vehicles from using the walking trails and ordering the parks and park road be closed from dusk to dawn.

Resignation/appointment

The scoop: Selectmen accepted the resignation of Steve Holbrook from the town’s Cemetery Committee and appointed George Buker to take his place. With the town’s cemeteries virtually full, the Cemetery Committee has been charged with developing a plan for new cemetery space. The committee is seeking either to expand an existing cemetery or to create a new cemetery. According to Selectman Eda Tripp, the board’s representative on the Cemetery Committee, the committee is narrowing its search and should come up with recommendation for next town meeting.

– Winslow Durgin