PERU — Selectmen will hold an informational meeting on the proposed 2019-20 municipal budget at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Dirigo Elementary School, 117 Auburn Road.

Chairwoman Raquel Welch said the board will address the June 11 town meeting warrant and the possibility of a tax rate increase.

The increase would be primarily due to an 8 percent increase in the Regional School Unit 56 budget, and 9% increases in the Oxford County and the Med-Care ambulance service assessments.

Welch said the proposed increases are why the town couldn’t afford to put $170,000 into repairing the former Peru Elementary School, with taxpayers ultimately voting to tear it down.

She said town officials are asking voters to approve using $200,000 from surplus to help offset a tax increase.

Regarding the proposed $1.47 million municipal budget, Welch said it’s “almost a carbon copy of last year.”

“If it doesn’t pass, I don’t know what we’re going to do,” she said. “If we have to cut any more, it’s going to have to come out of the highway budget, and then it’s going to start affecting roads.

The Finance Committee will attend the meeting to explain why it voted against 12 of the 36 articles on the warrant, Welch said.

Gail Belyea, chairwoman of the Finance Committee, said the budget needs to be cut because taxpayers cannot afford it.

Much of the budget disagreement between the Select Board and the Finance Committee is over funding for the Highway Department, including requests for a backhoe and a truck.

Voters will be asked to buy a used 10-wheeler with hydraulics, not to exceed $98,000, and to raise $36,000 for the first of three payments.

Belyea said the Finance Committee wants a six-wheeler.

Another request is to finance a new Case 590 backhoe, not to exceed $130,000, and to raise $48,000 for the first of three payments.

Belyea said her committee says 5,000 hours on the present backhoe is not a lot.

And while the Finance Committee supports the proposed winter roads budget, members are against the proposed summer roads budget, finding issues with wages, insurance and the number of employees.

“What I’m hoping is that people are going to look at those recommendations, that they’e going to question the Finance Committee and say, ‘Why did you vote no?’ instead of voting no on everything,” Welch said.

Voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, at the Town Office.
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