FARMINGTON — Voters will consider raising funds for roads and will have their say on the budget when they gather at 7 p.m. Monday, March 18, at the Community Center for the annual town meeting.

Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday at the Community Center to choose two selectmen and two RSU 9 directors, each for three years.

Selectmen Stephan Bunker and Andrew Hufnagel are seeking re-election and are challenged by Jon Bubier and Joshua Bell.

Yvette Robinson and Eric Gilbert are the only candidates for the two school board seats.

One of the 39 articles on the warrant asks voters to raise $133,000 to start a five-year Capital Improvement Program for roads. This amount, combined with the expected $173,000 from the Maine State Urban Rural Initiative Program, will cover reconstruction of the Voter Hill Road and work on Johnson Heights this year.

The consensus of a volunteer committee formed to discuss road conditions in 2010 was that town roads are “in very poor shape and maintenance and repair work has been underfunded for some time,” according to a handout on the article.

While the life span of a road is considered 10 years, many of Farmington’s 71 miles of roads have not seen major work in more than 15 years. With the rising costs of asphalt, reconstruction costs are estimated at $162,000 a mile.

Using a Maine Department of Transportation road assessment program, roads were prioritized according to need for the plan.

For the $133,000 appropriation, the tax rate is expected to rise about 33 cents per thousand dollars of valuation, an increase of $33 on a home assessed at $100,000.

Voters will also consider other articles that bring the town budget to $4,922,715, an increase of $271,781 over 2012.

Funds proposed for running the town represent an increase of $77,148 and include a 2.55 percent pay increase for town employees. The remainder of the proposed increase, $194,633, includes the $133,000 for roads, debt service on the town garage, newest firetruck and police station.

Selectmen and the Budget Committee recommend raising the $2,000 requested by the American Red Cross but both recommend no appropriation for Safe Voices’ $5,250 request this year. Last year, voters chose to fund $5,000 for the organization that advocates for abused women and men.

While the tax rate will not be set until August, town officials estimate the proposed budget will result in a tax rate of $17.30 per thousand of valuation.

The estimated rate is based on the assumption that school and county taxes do not increase substantially, local property assessments increase by about 1 percent and voters approve the warrant articles at about the amounts recommended, according to meeting handouts.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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