JAY — Selectmen are scheduled to set the tax rate for 2013-14 at their Monday night meeting.

The rate will have to go up, but not dramatically, Town Manager Ruth Cushman said. Last year’s rate was $13.75 per $1,000 of value. The new rate will increase by less than 50 cents, she said.

The reason for the hike is less state revenue. Both the municipal and RSU 73 school budgets are down, she said.

The selectmen’s meeting will follow a special town meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26, at the Town Office. Residents will consider a proposed update to the town’s administrative ordinance, borrowing money for sewer upgrades and transferring up to $100,000 from undesignated funds for a new fuel island.

During the selectmen’s meeting, Cushman said there will be discussion on a possible way to get public access to Parker Pond off East Jay Road. It is a secondary drinking water supply for the Livermore Falls Water District’s customers in Jay and Livermore Falls.

The town has tried for years to find a way to get access to the pond. It recently acquired a property on the waterfront for nonpayment of taxes, but there is still no access to the pond.

Resident Michael Adams, who has property in the area, is interested in having a dirt right of way built, she said. If the town built it, he would give the town a right of way over the property. There are two other property owners along the way that have voiced interest in the past to the town gaining access to the pond.

The right of way would be about a mile to the pond, Cushman said.

The board will also discuss three bids received for a fuel island that could be built at the highway garage, if voters approve an article during the special town meeting.

Cushman said she will also ask selectmen to have the Ordinance Review Committee develop an animal control ordinance.

“We have so many barking dog complaints,” she said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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