DIXFIELD — Residents voted Wednesday evening to establish capital improvement accounts for the Ludden Memorial Library and the Town Office building, and to appropriate $1,500 for each.

Town Manager Carlo Puiia said selectmen had voted to create the accounts and place $2,500 in each reserve fund, but he learned from a Maine Municipal Association attorney that the funds should be established by voters.

“The MMA attorney said that a municipality can establish a reserve fund by appropriating money during a special town meeting, and if you vote to establish the account, there should also be seed money for that account,” Puiia said.

Selectman Dana Whittemore pointed out to Puiia that the Ludden Memorial Library had $5,400 unspent from the previous fiscal year.

“Would it be prudent to establish the fund from that unexpended balance?”  Whittemore asked.

“Actually, that money will go back into the general fund and help offset taxes the following year,” Puiia said.

Whittemore later suggested that residents vote to establish the reserve funds first, and then vote to approve an amount for each fund.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net


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