Newry board approves 42-cent increase in tax rate

NEWRY — Town Office employees were busy Wednesday morning printing off 3,447 property tax bills and stuffing them into envelopes.

Selectmen set the new tax rate Tuesday night at $9.47 per $1,000 of valuation, Administrator Loretta Powers said. It is a 42-cent increase.

“The tax bills will be in tomorrow’s mail,” she said.

Despite the low rate, compared to Rumford’s $26.95 or Canton’s $22.75, Powers said there will be residents who will complain about their taxes going up.

“But at town meeting (in March), they voted to raise $150,000 for the Letter S project, so we have to raise that money through taxation,” she said.

The Letter S project calls for reconstructing a stretch of Sunday River Road between Nordic Knoll subdivision and the Letter S swimming hole. Work by contractor Steve Swasey began Monday.

In other municipal news, the board approved bylaws and a cyber policy for town employees required by Maine Municipal Insurance. They also discussed going from three to five selectmen. That was a request by a resident. Powers said they didn’t make a decision.

The board also fielded a request by a resident wanting permission to drive his all-terrain vehicle on Sunday River Road, but Powers said the board couldn’t grant that because Newry doesn’t have an ATV road access ordinance.

The board’s next regular meeting is at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 21, in the Town Office.

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