NORWAY — Voters will be asked to OK about $87,445 in expenditures at a special town meeting Thursday evening.

The meeting gets underway at 7 p.m. in the Town Office on Danforth Street.

The Police Department is asking for $20,000 from the unrestricted fund balance and $7,000 from the general administration account to cover an unanticipated overdraft.

Town Manager David Holt said a police contract was signed after the budget was made and wages were higher than anticipated. Additionally, Holt said an officer was on leave and his shifts had to be filled and a police car totaled in an accident was not completely covered by insurance.

Voters will also be asked to return $20,000 to the Recreation Department budget after a mistake was made in the warrant for the annual town meeting of 2013.

“We made a mistake and we just want to put the money back where it belongs,” Holt told the Budget Committee on Monday night.

Advertisement

Calling it “one of the most confusing (budget) years I’ve been involved in,” Holt said a mistake was made when alternative funding plan was suggested for the previous fiscal year to cut costs because of concerns about state budget cuts proposed by Gov. Paul LePage.

A request is being made to appropriate $23,500 from the unrestricted fund to cover the removal of a tax-acquired house on lower Main Street. The house, which was taken down last year, was in a residential area, filled with garbage and considered dangerous by officials.

Voters will be requested to return $5,000 to the cemetery maintenance budget. A total of $4,000 had been cut from previous years’ expenditures, leaving the cemeteries without enough money to properly maintain them. Holt said any unspent money would go back to the surplus account.

Holt said the money will be used to clean the cemeteries before Memorial Day.

In other action, voters will be asked to use approximately $5,000 from the Denison Cole Trust Fund to upgrade the town website.

The board decided not to wait until the annual town meeting in June to ask for the funds in order to expedite the website before tourist season. The website was set up about 10 years ago.

Voters also will be asked to appropriate $4,445 from the unrestricted fund to cover the unanticipated cost of installing a camera on the traffic light by Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.

A total of $2,500 is being requested from the unrestricted fund for the municipal building account to cover unanticipated heating costs.

ldixon@sunjournal.com


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.