MINOT — Selectmen set the property tax rate $15.10 per $1,000 of property valuation Monday night. That’s the same as the current rate so property owners can expect to see no increase in their bills scheduled to be sent next week.

“With everything else people are having to deal with, it’s a good thing if we can keep the tax rate steady,” Selectman Eda Tripp said. She explained that holding the line on taxes was possible because March town meeting voters approved a town budget that was down about $100,000 and the school appropriation was down about $8,000.

Tripp said the rate takes into account significant reduction in state revenue sharing and anticipated vehicle excise tax collections. The rate also contains a $58,000 overlay — up from the usual $30,000 to $40,000 — to serve as a cushion in the event the state makes further reductions in municipal sharing.

Selectman Dan Callahan commended Tripp for her preparation of the tax rate recommendation, and Selectman Dan Gilpatric added that Minot was well served by how its finances were being handled. Tripp credited town Treasurer Connie Taker for maintaining clear and accurate records.

Town Administrator Arlan Saunders reported receipt of a legal opinion that the town does not have to return impact fees for schools it collected as part of its community facilities impact-fee program. Now that Minot has joined Regional School Unit 16 and no longer owns the Minot consolidated school, the question of what to do with the $208,000 was raised.

Legal opinion from Maine Municipal Association said Minot “may deposit collected impact fees in a trust fund to be used to pay (its) proportionate share of anticipated school capital costs.”

The town’s attorney at Skelton, Taintor & Abbott noted that the “anticipated school costs” would be limited to the purposes for which the impact fees were raised: new construction brought on by new growth.

In other business, selectmen awarded the contract to construct 1,300 feet of walking trails to Washburn & Son LLC for $2.50 a foot. Washburn was the lowest of three bids received. Saunders noted that the town’s highway department has already hauled about 400 tons of gravel to the ball fields for the hiking trail project.

Recreation Committee member Candace Gilpatric noted that once this 1,300 foot section is complete, the town’s network of walking trails, which connect the town’s two sets of athletic fields with the school and the town office complex, will be about 2 miles long. Another 3,400 feet of the pathway system has been cut but not stumped, Gilpatric said, and will be developed during future phases.