WOODSTOCK — Residents voted to raise and appropriate $625,000 for road maintenance at Monday evening’s annual town meeting at Woodstock Elementary School.
The amount was $70,000 more than the previous year because of an increase in the winter roads account. Selectmen proposed $175,000 for winter roads for the 2015-16 fiscal year, an increase of $50,000.
Town Manager Vern Maxfield said that for the past four or five years, the town had been overdrawing the winter roads account.
“We’ve been budgeting money at the beginning of the year, and we run out before the end of the year,” Maxfield said. “The $175,000 that we’re proposing for the upcoming fiscal year is what the winter roads budget really ought to look like. It’s the amount we’re actually spending on a year-to-year basis.”
Maxfield later pointed out that during a special town meeting in August 2014, the town had to raise an additional $30,000 for the winter roads account to cover anticipated overdrafts, and that at the end of 2014, the town had to overdraw another $10,000.
“A $175,000 winter roads budget is more realistic, based on the winters we’ve had lately,” Maxfield said.
One resident asked Maxfield why the equipment maintenance line item in the road maintenance budget had increased from $55,000 to $75,000.
“It’s a similar reason to why we raised the winter roads account,” Maxfield replied. “$75,000 is a more realistic number for us. We’ve had a number of major truck repairs to take care of over the last year or two, and it costs more money to make those fixes.”
Residents also voted 40-25 to elect Mike Nadeau to a three-year term as selectman. Nadeau, who was running against Peter Fetchko, is replacing Chairman Victor “Rick” Young, who has served in the position for nine years.
Young decided against running for a fourth term.
Before the vote, Maxfield lauded Young for his service to the town.
“He decided not to run this year, but I just want to recognize all he’s done for the town over the last nine years,” Maxfield said as he turned to Young, smiling. “I’ll definitely have your phone number on speed dial just in case.”
Nadeau said he has served two previous terms as selectman, and hopes to “carry on Rick’s tradition of keeping things in reality.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
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.