LIVERMORE FALLS — A town meeting to decide budget articles that were rejected in June will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, at the Town Office.

Selectmen on Tuesday set new amounts for voters to consider.

The article on pay for elected officials caused considerable disagreement among board members.

Selectman George Cummings said he would be willing to work for the 2017 fiscal year for $1, and suggested other board members volunteer to do so to save the town money.

“You’re going to have a difficult time finding people to serve as selectmen if you do that,” cautioned Chairwoman Louise Chabot.

“We don’t do this to get rich,” countered board member Ron Chadwick.

“We’ve been at $10,500 (the combined pay of the five selectmen per year) for five years,” Selectman Jeff Bryant said. “For the stuff you’ve got to go through, it’s a very minimal cost to the town for the five people on the board.”

“My thought process behind a dollar is we’re going to have to make some cuts elsewhere and I’m not comfortable asking other departments to do something I’m not doing,” Selectman Tom Barker said.

Selectmen voted to set the pay for selectmen at $1 each for the next year.

The board approved $27,855 for elected officials, compared to $38,350 in the June referendum.

Other amounts the board set were:

* $215,680 for administration;

* $415,807 for the Police Department;

* $348,900 for Public Works;

* $378,355 for insurance; and 

* $40,960 for capital improvements.

If voters approve the articles, the 2017 budget will be $2.34 million, compared to $2.38 million voters considered in June.

With all of the articles approved, the 2017 budget would be $31,238 less than the 2016 budget.

There will also be an article asking voters to accept the boundary lines between the fire station and Bailey Bros. It’s part of the process the town must go through to construct a new fire station, Town Manager Kristal Flagg said.

In other business, selectmen approved $7,000 to be taken from the town’s sewer reserve funds to repair two bearings in an auger at the wastewater treatment plant.

They also accepted the resignations of sewer department employee Will Parker and police officers Devon Bohacik and Michael Pina.

bmatulaitis@sunmediagroup.net

“We don’t do this to get rich.” — Selectman Ron Chadwick

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