CARTHAGE — On Friday, Carthage selectmen were going door to door in town handing out copies of the new annual report for 2010.

They were also notifying residents that the annual town meeting, which is normally held in March, is rather late this year. It will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, at the Carthage Town Office building.

“We try to do them in March, so this is unusual,” First Selectman Steve Brown, 68, said Friday. “I’ll take full responsibility.”

Much of the tardiness he attributed to having to get the 2010 audit redone. It was completed by town auditor Harold Blake of Hallowell, and then selectmen learned Blake had lost his state certification prior to completing it.

“We needed that audit where we print that in our report,” Brown said.

“Harold did a super job for us for years, and there wasn’t any problem here for the work he did for us.

“He is very conscientious about things and getting things right,” he said. “He really worked with us, and we appreciated it.”

Brown said selectmen waited until certified public accountant Larry Campbell of Lewiston took over Blake’s business and redid Carthage’s audit. He then delivered it to Brown this fall.

And that’s when Brown said he learned in late November that the printing firm that’s done Carthage’s annual report for years was about to go out of business.

Luckily, he found a printer in Wilton who could do the work in time for the Dec. 19 meeting.

Despite the long wait while lacking a new municipal budget, Brown said, “We didn’t do anything extravagant, just kind of did the typical work that had to be done.

“Carthage always has tight control over its municipal government budgets.”

Using money previously saved for the job, the town rebuilt the Smith Road bridge in South Carthage, replacing its main stringers.

“It was probably the biggest job we’d done on that in well over 30 years,” Brown said.

“We did a nice job for a reasonable cost. I think it was about $17,000, and we put in brand new structural steel and did it with just hiring local people.

“It was something that had to be done, and we didn’t want to let it go any further and we had the money lined up for it,” he said.

For Monday’s town meeting, the municipal budget to raise from taxes is $182,427, which is $6,024 less than last year, Brown said.

However, the Franklin County assessment increased $2,944 over last year to $29,777, and the RSU 10 assessment for the Carthage calendar year increased $24,232 to $303,314, he said.

“So even though the municipal part went down, we couldn’t offset those other increases,” Brown said.

Municipal revenue sharing dropped by more than $8,000, “but the tree growth reimbursement, for some reason, they actually reimbursed us fully for it or at 90 percent,” he said.

“So that was enough to offset the drop in state revenue sharing for a town like Carthage.

“So the bottom line was there’s about $20,479 more to raise than last year, so there’s less than a 5 percent increase,” Brown said. “So there will be a slight tax rate increase, but I don’t think it’s too bad.”

For municipal elections, three incumbents are seeking re-election. They are Linda Berry, tax collector and town clerk, and Treasurer Nancy Blodgett, both of which positions are one-year terms; and Third Selectman Banaman “Bob” Weston for another three-year term.

Carthage elects from the floor.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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