CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Voters will be asked Wednesday if they back the idea of building a new library/community building.

They’ll also elect municipal officers. Both take place at the annual town meeting.

Polls opens at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. at the town office. The meeting reconvenes at 7:30 p.m. at the Outdoor Center.

The question, Town Manager Dave Cota said, “asks voters if they wish to approve a $1.2 million library/community center based on the New Library Committee raising one half of that amount.”

The vote is the result of a citizen petition that does not authorize construction, raising money or borrowing money for the project, he said.

A second article regarding the project asks the town to reserve up to $200,000 for up to three years from the town surplus for the library building reserve.

The town has been putting money into a library reserve for several years. It totals $37,700. Library trustees and the New Building Committee have raised more than $100,000 and continue to approach donors and grant sources for large donations, he said.

The money reserved by the town will help make the request more credible by showing donors that the town is matching the amounts raised, he said. This will increase the reserve amount but not affect the town’s tax rate now, he added.

Voters will also be asked to purchase a new pumper/tanker firetruck and equipment. The article requests up to $270,000 for the truck and to sell two existing trucks and replace them with this combination truck, Cota said. This would complete a seven-year plan to reduce the number of large firefighting trucks from five to three, he said.

Voters will also consider plans for additional trail improvements at the Outdoor Center with money earned by implementation of the town’s Forest Management Plan.

Money raised by harvesting town forests is put in the town lot fund, and voters will be asked to use that for the trail improvements.

The Planning Board is endorsing three articles that cover zoning, subdivision and shoreland zoning ordinance amendments, Cota said. Copies of these proposed articles are expected to be listed on the town’s Web site, www.carrabassettvalley.org

Elections include a selectman for three years. Incumbent George Abbott is opposed by John “Jay” Reynolds, Town Clerk Wendy Russell said.

Sanitary District Trustee Robert Briggs is running for another three-year term, and two school committee openings for three-year terms are being sought by Kathi Gray and incumbent Earle Morse.

The mill rate is estimated to increase to about $6.30.

Most of the total estimated increase of $270,135 in the proposed 2008 tax commitment reflects the combined town and school budgets and the town’s share of the Franklin County budget, Cota said.