GILEAD — Voters at Saturday’s annual town meeting will consider whether to make the road commissioner an appointed, rather than elected position, and whether to pay off the remaining $41,000 on the loan for the Town Office building.
Selectmen are recommending the change in the way the road commissioner is chosen. The same question was put to voters several years ago and was rejected.
Selectmen are also recommending that the town finish paying off an $86,500 loan taken out in 2008 to renovate what is now the Town Office building next to the Town Hall. The board proposes to take the remaining $41,539 from surplus.
Interest payments each year have averaged approximately $2,000, according to Treasurer/Town Clerk Lin Chapman.
If voters decline to pay it off, they would need to raise $28,218 in the next article to go toward all long-term notes. If they vote to pay the loan off, they would raise about $17,000 for the notes’ payments.
Chapman said if the loan is paid off it would leave only a firetruck loan to be paid. The town could then start saving for possible town equipment replacement, she said.
Another warrant article recommends raising $2,000 to build a small sand shed outside the transfer station for residents to obtain sand when the Transfer Station is closed. The town sand supply is currently behind the gated entrance to the station.
If voters approve all 34 articles on the warrant, including paying off of the Town Office loan, the amount to be raised from taxes for municipal expenses would be $173,552, down from last year’s $213,415, according to Chapman.
If they do not wish to pay off the loan, the amount to be raised would be $184,292.
The school costs are not included on the warrant because they have not been determined. A special town meeting will need to be called when the school budget is ready for consideration.
In town elections, selectmen Chairman Jeremy Morin’s three-year position is expiring, and he will run again.
School Committee member Nikki Petillo’s three-year position is also expiring.
The town meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.
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