LIVERMORE FALLS – Townspeople asked several questions during a public hearing Tuesday on a proposed $2.7 million budget for 2009-10 municipal operations.

The package reflects a 15 percent, or $354,018, increase over this year.

Voters will get their say on the budget from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, at the town office.

The main reasons for the increase are requests to replace three aging plow trucks with two new trucks, and raising $120,000 for paving and $50,000 for capital improvements.

Revenues to offset the increase are unknown at this time, Town Clerk/Treasurer Kristal Flagg.

Last year, about $200,000 was taken from surplus to offset spending, she said. This year there is no money being taken from surplus.

Selectmen are also asking for a $200 increase each in pay, bringing them to $2,100 per year.

New Town Manager Jim Chaousis said if anyone needs more information on the budget, he would get it for them.

Resident Scott Roberts asked what the $354,018 increase would mean to the tax rate.

Flagg estimated it would be a $1.50 to $2 per $1,000 increase on the tax rate.

Resident Ron Chadwick, a member of the Budget Committee, said that last year $140,000 to $150,000 represented a $1 per $1,000 valuation increase to the tax rate. He said the budget increase would be closer $3 per $1,000 in increase in the rate.

Select board Chairwoman Louise Chabot said they’ll know better when the town’s valuation and the revenues are known.

Flagg also said the SAD 36 budget will affect the tax rate.

There are a lot of things in town that haven’t had money put into them, including the highway truck fleet, for a long time, she said.

“We’ve got to maintain the roads,” Selectman Bill Demaray said, and in order to do that there needs to be new equipment. “Or we’re going to have to get rid of the Highway Department. . . . We’ve got to do something.”

Highway foreman Bill Nichols invited people to look at the trucks to see their condition.

“We’re trying very hard to keep costs down as much as possible,” Chabot said.

The only major increase is in the highway budget, she said.

They are also trying to take advantage of low interest rates, she said, and what they believe is the last year of having tax revenue from the Wausau Paper mill. The mill plans to cease operations by May 31.

In other business, selectmen thanked Flagg for all of her hard work as interim town manager since Sept. 26. She will continue to help Chaousis get up to speed, Chabot said.

The board also voted to appoint Jennifer Pooler, who works for the Department of Education, as a SAD 36 board member to fill a vacancy on the board until the June 9 election.

Selectmen also expressed concern that no one had taken out papers for the two-year selectmen’s term or the one-year term.