NORWAY — For town government, Spring means one thing: budget season. Last Thursday, Norway Town Manager David Holt presented the Norway Selectboard with the town budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

“We know it’s April because here we are looking at the budget,” Holt began.

He informed the board that Mainers were given a slight decrease at the upper eschalong of Maine taxpayers who were given an incometax reduction a few years ago. He said that as a result there have been cuts to Maine towns and pressure to increase property tax.

“I don’t know if that’s what was in debate at the time, but that’s in fact what’s happened,” said Holt. Holt said that his job is to try to recommend a budget that gets what residents want done with the money that is available. He continued to say that his job requires attention to diferent departments in town and meeting each department’s needs.

“The police [department] is different from the highway crew,” said Holt about the different departments in town. “I signed up for this job, but it’s not particularly easy all the time,” he said.

Despite challenges that the town has faced, the Norway tax rate has remained “relatively stable’. Holt said that there have not been many rapid “ups and downs’, and there has been a steady increase.

“At least people have known pretty well what to expect they’re going to pay for property taxes in each year,” said Holt.

Holt believes that with the town sharing works with neighbornig towns has saved money and worked well. Norway currently shares recycling, a Code Enforcement Officer, a General Assistance Officer, and a solid waste facility.

“We haven’t always been successful with the ideas of sharing, but in those cases where we do it, it saves money,” said Holt. He added that even though some people don’t believe that sharing these entities saves enough money, taxes are lower because of the sharing that the town does.

General Assistance, which Holt believes may get the most scruitiny from residents, is the lowest that it has been in years. He added that over this past March, no money was spent from on General Assistance. He said that March is usually the month that Norway gives the most assistance.

During the selectboard meeting, Holt also proposed a $1.2 million five-year bond issue that would mend Main Street, Norway. He asked the budget committee, who was present at the selectboard meeting, as well as the selectboard to place the bond issue on the Town Meeting warrant set for this June.

He informed boards that the money for the bond would not come in until next year, and repayments for it wouldn’t begin until the following year, 2016.

“The reason why I’m trying to push this through is that way next spring we can get out to bid really early and not have to wait until the June town meeting,” said Holt. “We could get it out in April,”

Overall, Holt said that he approached the budget with keeping it reasonable. He budgeted for major things in town that were necessary and would let the budget committee and selectboard review it.

Taxable growth is expected because Oxford County and SAD 17 assessments came in less than expected, said Holt.The overall increase to homeowowners would most likely be around 5 percent. The $4.4 million budget would show that the town’s requested increase would be greater, at 6 percent.

The budget also includes $115,000 for a new dump truck and $30,000 for a sidewalk plow.

“I wish it was less but there are some things that the town needs,” said Holt.