TURNER — Selectmen set the town’s tax rate at $14.39 per $1,000 of assessed value Monday night.

Town Manager Eva Leavitt said it represents an increase of 5 percent from last year’s $13.66. She said the town had a relatively small tax increase last year after three years of decline in the rate.

Selectmen used $300,000 from undesignated surplus to lessen the impact of spending increases. An increase in the town’s taxable base also helped.

This year, paving and construction was funded sufficiently to get road maintenance and improvements back on track after several years of falling behind. Voters approved an additional $135,000 for the municipal budget at the annual town meeting.

The RSU 52 budget increased $165,067 and the Androscoggin County assessment $13,211.

Before setting the tax rate, selectmen discussed how the rate compared with past years and other towns. Selectman Dennis Richardson said he didn’t think it was realistic to expect no increase in taxes with prices going up as they are.

Chairman Angelo Terreri pointed out that some towns’ tax rates had gone down this year.

Selectman Lawrence House reminded them that over the past 10 years Turner’s has not gone up much.

Selectman Ralph Caldwell said they could continue to keep taxes low if residents without kids keep building $300,000 houses in town to increase the tax base.

Selectmen’s Administrative Assistant Sandra Philipon reported she has completed the weeklong Tax Assessor School presented by the University of Maine in Belfast. She expects to receive her certification as an assessor based on a test taken as part of the course.

Selectmen spent considerable time deciding how to award the town mowing contract. There were two relatively low bids from local contractors and two relatively high ones from out-of-town contractors.

Warren Hood, doing business as Splash Trucking, has done the mowing for several years. His equipment includes a bush hog on an arm that is capable of trimming back roadside brush. He based his bid on a rate of $75 per hour and the time it has taken to do the job in the past. His bid was second lowest.

Selectman Caldwell, doing business as Caldwell, Inc., submitted the low bid of $5,725. His equipment is capable of mowing the roadsides but not pushing back the larger roadside brush that Hood can handle. The specification only called for mowing and did not mention brush.

Both bidders indicated that they were offering a service to their town and were not anxious to receive the contract.

Selectmen agreed that some brush trimming was required and Caldwell said he would gladly vote to award the contract to Hood.

There seemed to be consensus on giving Hood the contract until Selectman Kurt Youland, a longtime construction contractor, pointed out that it set a bad precedent to not award the contract to the low bidder, if he met the specification.

Leavitt suggested splitting the contract which all agreed to do. The mowing contract was awarded to Caldwell and Hood agreed to do any required brush trimming at last year’s hourly rate.

Leavitt presented information on options for disposing of recyclable material. They will enter into an open-ended arrangement to send it to Scarborough. While this will increase shipping cost per load, it appears that by compacting the material and getting more on each load, they will return a profit to the town. They will review the arrangement in 90 days.