OTISFIELD — Voters will be asked to approve a $1.58 million municipal budget at the annual town meeting Saturday.

Action on the 26-article warrant begins at 9 a.m. June 28 at the Otisfield Community Hall on Route 121.

The municipal budget requests amount to about a 3 percent increase over last year’s $1.47 million.

Hal Ferguson, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said the actual budget number is not known yet.

“We may recommend using an existing account as offset to make sure that we remain under LD1,” he said Tuesday.

Included in this year’s proposed budget is an average 4 percent pay raise for most employees. No raises were given last year, he said.

Ferguson said there are several other reasons for the budget increase, including additional requests for the administrative and legal account; road construction reserve, tank truck bond and a new Town Office boiler.

Voters will also be asked to raise and appropriate $125,000 for solid waste and $5,725 for health and social welfare agencies and the library.

Voters also will be asked to OK $655,000 for the Public Works Department. It includes includes $210,000 for winter roads, $165,000 for summer roads and $120,000 for tarring and resurfacing projects.

Other budget items include:

* $148,337 for public safety and cemeteries, including $69,860 for the Fire Department and $13,000 for cemeteries;

* $179,848 for employee benefits, including $84,868 for health insurance costs.

* $322,000 for the General Government accounts, including $58,500 for officers’ salaries and $110,000 for administration.

Voters will be asked to appropriate $55,000 for improvements to Cobb Hill Road, including $12,500 for the design by the Oxford County Soil and Water Conservation District and $42,500 for labor and materials.

The Western Foothills Land Trust is requesting $5,000 to acquire a 252-acre parcel known as Twin Bridges as a working forest with public recreation benefits. The purchase is part of a 730-acre, $1.6 million Crooked River Forest Project in Otisfield and Harrison in collaboration with the Loon Echo Land Trust.

Selectmen also are asking for a nonbinding vote to support their proposed agreement with about three dozen leaseholders at Heniger Park on Pleasant Lake.

The 99-year agreement would have leaseholders agree to terminate their current 50-year lease in writing between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2015. Selectmen say the plan could add $100,000 to the tax base. Some leaseholders say it will price them out of their camps.

Of the 37 lots, the leases on 13 will expire in 2015. The rest expire before 2032.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link