POLAND — Residents approved a $5.7 million municipal budget beginning July 1 at the town meeting Saturday.

Town Manager Bradley Plante estimated that the budget, which is nearly $220,000 higher than the current year’s budget of $5.5 million, will increase property taxes by no more than about 6 cents for every $1,000 in property valuation. The low tax increase, Plante noted, is the result of a plan to transfer $240,000 from the town’s Tax Increment Financing accounts.

Plante’s estimate doesn’t take into consideration what the effect of the yet-to-be-determined school budget might be on the local property tax rate.

Voters rejected a citizen petition that called for the restoration of the McConaghy-Walker house. The approval would have added more than a half-mill to the tax rate if the $102,000 proposed to make the building wheelchair-accessible had passed.

The McConaghy-Walker house was acquired by the town three years ago for $174,000.

Arthur Berry argued that the town stood to lose a vital piece of its historic heritage if it followed through with plans to demolish the structure.

Barbara Strout read a letter from Greg Paxton of Maine Preservation in which he noted that the McConaghy-Walker house, an American Foursquare dwelling erected in 1910, was one of the few survivors of the disastrous 1940 fire that had swept through Poland Corner.

Strout said the buildings on either side of the McConaghy-Walker house, the Ricker Memorial Library and Town Hall are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. She said her group had requested the Maine Historical Preservation Commission consider placing several buildings on both sides of Maine Street that had survived the fires of 1925 and 1940 on the National Register.

Selectman Steve Robinson questioned the value of the building, noting that for three years, the board has offered the building to anyone willing to move it to another site.

“No one has seen enough value in it to spend the $30,000 to move it,” Robinson said.

Resident Jack Conway suggested the town cut its losses.

“In three year’s time, the only suggested use for the building has been to spend money on it,” he said.

Another resident called it “a money pig” and said the $102,000 being proposed is “just the beginning.”

Residents approved $30,000 to demolish the McConaghy-Walker house.

Voters also approved seven articles amending portions of the town’s land use code as proposed by the Planning Board, without asking Chairman William Foster any questions.

The Conservation Commission’s proposal to establish the “Heart of Poland Conservation Easement,” protecting some 95 acres of woodland on town-owned property that extends from the municipal complex on Maine Street to the Transfer Station on Tripp Lake Road, received overwhelming support.

Voters approved $7,500 toward the estimated $15,000 needed to establish the easement, to be held by the New England Forestry Foundation.

Conservation Commission Co-Chairman Fred Huntress received a standing ovation following his presentation describing the parcel’s natural features and detailing the history of how the land was secured for preservation. It was his second of the day — the first one came earlier while receiving this year’s W. Ballard Nash Sr. Award for his more than 52 years of service to the community.

Ed Rabasco Jr. served as town meeting moderator, guiding the 128 residents in attendance through the 39-article agenda in about two and a half hours.

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