DIXFIELD — Residents will vote on 29 articles on the annual town meeting warrant beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday in the community room of Dirigo High School.

One asks asks if the town should appropriate $83,120 from surplus to repair sidewalks, along with funds from a Maine Department of Transportation Sidewalk Grant in the anticipated amount of $288,232.

During an April 1 budget meeting between the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee, former Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky said MDOT is resurfacing Route 2, and as part of that construction, the selectmen have agreed to have the downtown sidewalks resurfaced with asphalt. During that meeting, he explained that the project would use the surplus money, in addition to the grant money, in lieu of raising money through taxation.

Another article asks voters to decide if the town should raise and appropriate $4,601 for the 2014 fiscal year for social services, including $1,257 to Community Concepts, $738 for SeniorsPlus and $580 for Androscoggin Home Health.

Voters will also have the chance to decide whether the town should raise and appropriate $23,850 for the grounds budget, which is up $5,000 from the initiated request of $18,656.

The $23,850 recommendation by the selectmen and the Finance Committee is to pay for someone to mow cemeteries, leaving the Public Works department available for other projects.

The $18,656 initiated request would mean the Public Works department would remain in charge of maintaining the town cemeteries instead of a seasonal worker, but Selectman Scott Belskis pointed out during an April 29 budget meeting that once you add in the Public Works wages for time spent mowing, the total money spent would be more than $37,000.

Following the annual town meeting, residents will have an opportunity to vote on two referendum questions.

One question asks voters if they would favor having the Board of Selectmen prepare an ordinance for consideration at a later town meeting that would have all budgetary items decided via a referendum ballot rather than a vote at an open meeting. According to the election warrant, this question would be a nonbinding straw vote to give the board an idea of what voters think.

The other question asks voters if the agreement between RSU 10 and the town should be approved, if the petition for withdrawal approved by Dixfield on Nov. 6, 2012, be terminated and if the Withdrawal Committee be discontinued.

The Dixfield Withdrawal Committee was initially formed last year after RSU 10 Superintendent Tom Ward suggested combining Dirigo High School in Dixfield and Mountain Valley High School in Rumford to to save money.

The agreement between RSU 10 and and the Dixfield Withdrawal Committee comes in the form of a 10-year facilities plan that calls for Dirigo High School and Mountain Valley High School to both be maintained, along with Buckfield Junior-Senior High School. The plan could change if state subsidy or student enrollment drops by 25 or more percent, according to the agreement.

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