STRONG — Selectmen and the Budget Committee’s 2011 proposal budget is up 6.6 percent from the current budget but proposed energy-efficient investments are expected to save tax dollars and support the local economy.

A town Energy Committee analyzed heating and cooling costs, insulation levels, window replacements and other energy measures in the town garage, fire station and town office,  committee member Michael Carleton said.

“We estimated we spend an extra $1,000 each year to run a town office boiler daily, even though we use very little hot water,” he said. “The town office building is empty much of the time, so spending $1,500 for an on-demand water heater will pay for itself pretty quickly, especially with the price of oil going up steadily.”

Selectmen and the Budget Committee also will ask voters to approve $25,000 to install a pellet boiler as the town office’s primary heating source.

With a guaranteed per-ton price for pellets at the Geneva Wood Fuels plant next door, payback could take six years or less, depending on oil prices.

Selectmen will ask voters to approve a Property-Assessed Clean Energy ordinance, as 55 other Maine towns and cities have done.

Maine PACE is a revolving loan program seeded by a $30 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant to Efficiency Maine from the U.S. Department of Energy. In order for Strong homeowners to be eligible for a low-interest PACE loan, the municipality must adopt the PACE ordinance, according to LD 1717, a state law passed last April. Homeowners can apply for a home-equity-style loan of up to $15,000 for energy efficiency improvements to their property.

Selectmen will request more than the standard legal account appropriation of $2,000. This year, they will ask taxpayers to approve $25,000.

“Based on past experience, and in anticipation of possible future litigation, we came up with the $25,000 figure for the legal account,” Selectman Rupert Pratt said.

Voters also will choose two selectmen from among four candidates during Friday’s annual town elections from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Forster Memorial Building.

Incumbent Mary White and challenger James Burrill are competing for a three-year term. Joan Reed is running unopposed for a one-year term.

Veteran school board member Gerald “Mike” Pond Jr. has decided against running again. Marc Edwards is candidate for that empty seat, and Cameron Lorrain has announced he is a write-in challenger for the position.

When voters reconvene for the annual town meeting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Forster Memorial Building, they will vote on funding requests totaling $618,853, Selectman Milton Baston said.