Rumford budget process completed

RUMFORD — Town Manager Stacy Carter told the Board of Selectmen on March 17 that the budget process is now complete.
He said the proposed municipal budget shows an increase of 3.74 percent, “mostly due to inflation costs and the need to budget for one extra week of payroll. This is a fiscal year with 53 pay periods, which happens once every seven years.”
Had it not been for the 53rd week, Carter said the budget increase would have been 3 percent.
The vote will be June 14 at the secret poll meeting.
In other business, the board voted 5-0 to accept a criminal forfeiture and to authorize Carter to sign for it.
Police Chief Tony Milligan said this stems from a drug case in Peru that is still active in the court system.
“The reason why Rumford is involved is because its Police K-9 team was involved in the investigation. There was a total of $3,878 in suspected drug proceeds. Rumford’s portion that was determined by the Attorney General’s Office to be appropriate is $775.60, which represents one-fifth of the total,” he said.
Carter said that on March 12, a town sand truck rolled over on Wheeler Street. There were no injuries, and damage to the truck was minor.
“We got it in the garage, got it running, and it was back out, in service, and working on March 15, laying down some sand.
It’s unfortunate, but we were lucky there were no injuries or serious damage,” he said, adding, “That was not one of our new trucks. That was one of the older fire trucks that was coverted to a sander.”
On the April 7 agenda, there will be a discussion about the municipal fire alarm system.
Carter said, “We’ve got an estimate as far as moving that system from the current station down to the new station, and the costs are extremely high. The effect will be removing pull boxes, which generally are never used, except by children when there’s not a fire, and it will affect businesses that are tied into them.”