TURNER — Spending on a laundry list of items — from road repairs and firetrucks to streetlights and fireworks  — will be voted on Saturday at the annual town meeting.

In all, 66 items worth as much as $2.68 million will be decided by voters at the meeting, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Leavitt Area High School cafeteria.

Town Manager Eva Leavitt hopes to have a good turnout this year, despite a forecast of foul weather and disappointing numbers for the past few annual meetings.

Last year, about 150 people attended, she said.

As a percentage of the town’s 4,000-plus registered voters, it’s slim, she said.

“It would be nice to have more,” Leavitt said. Warrants with the time and place for the meeting and the municipal election, scheduled for Friday, were sent to every mailbox in the town.

The election includes a contest for selectmen.

Three men will vie for two seats on the Board of Selectmen when voters gather April 1 for the annual municipal election. Voting is scheduled from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Town Office.

Ralph Caldwell will challenge Selectman Richard Keene for a three-year term on the board. And Kurt Youland will ask voters to approve him as a replacement for Jeffrey Timberlake, who plans to leave in April with a year remaining on his three-year term.

Timberlake announced his resignation in January, following his election to the Maine Legislature. The Turner Republican asked Youland to consider taking his place.

Three other people are running unopposed for their respective offices.

Elizabeth Bullard is running for a three-year term on the SAD 52 Board of Directors. Steven Maheu and Sandra Philipon are running for three-year terms on the town’s Budget Committee

On Saturday, the work will turn to money matters as voters weigh requests and recommendations for the municipal budget.

In the current budget year, ending June 30, Turner’s budget was set at about $2.1 million. Department heads, selectmen and the Budget Committee are all asking for increases.

If all of the requests from department heads were adopted, the town would be facing more than $567,000 in new spending, or an increase of about 26.8 percent.

The Budget Committee’s recommendations, if taken in each case, would raise spending by more than $143,000, or 6.8 percent. The selectmen’s recommendations would swell the budget by more than $122,000, or 5.7 percent.

“We agreed with the Budget Committee on just about everything,” said Angelo Terreri, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.

The differences with department heads came down to hoped-for improvements, from the Fire Department’s request for a new firetruck to the magnitude of needed road repairs, Terreri said.

Town officials requested more than $224,000 for summer road work. The Budget Committee and the selectmen cut that number to $186,000 in their recommendations, enough to pay for a large portion of the requested fix.

If the budget passes as recommended, Leavitt plans to survey the town’s roads with an outside consultant in hopes of making the best fixes with the smaller amount of money.

Selectmen and the Budget Committee have recommended $20,000 be set aside in a dedicated account to help purchase a firetruck as soon as next year.

The change cut the budget line by $130,000.

“We realized it would be almost impossible this year,” Terreri said. 

All groups are supporting a measure that would spend up to $10,000 for a fireworks display on Independence Day. This year also marks the 225th anniversary of Turner’s incorporation. The money was left from the town’s bicentennial.

“It could only be spent on a celebration,” Terreri said.

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