DIXFIELD — A special town meeting will be held Monday regarding funding for road repairs caused by flood damage this summer.
That meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Ludden Memorial Library, prior to the regular board meeting.
Friday afternoon, the Select Board gathered in the Town Office and voted 5-0 to approve the warrant.
Town Manager Alicia Conn said, “Our initial guidance had been that we did not need to do this through the select board, but the latest legal counsel advised that this needed to be approved by the voters.”
Voters will be asked to appropriate $1,000,000 at an interest rate of 6.55% for a capital project consists of road infrastructure and improvement to roads in East Dixfield and the Coolidge Road that were affected by the storm damage, primarily May 1.
Tony Carter of Dixfield, first supervisor of the unorganized territories and the Oxford County Regional Airport in Oxford, said Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected for up to 75% for the repairs from the storm damage, with the Maine Emergency Management Agency paying an additional 15%.
Dixfield’s share of the work will be about 10 percent of the cost.
Carter said earlier that the Severy Hill Road is now complete. Work has also been done on Rollins Ridge, Valley Road and Porter Road.
He said he has been working with contractor Steve Swasay with the repairs, with the paving by Pike Industries. Carter said Friday Swasey was pulling out of East Dixfield and moving on to Coolidge Road.
Conn said at this point, most of the repair work has been completed to the level these roads were before the flood damage.
She noted that what has not been done is anything above and beyond that.
Carter and Conn agreed that the current repairs is around $500,000.
Conn said they will only need to draw down what they need from the bond. “It’s better to be prepared for those other repairs, including Porter and the other culverts replacements that need to be made.”
Select Board member Janice Merrill asked if this will be the cause of taxes going up.
Board chair Richard Pickett responded, “I don’t know if they will or not, but I don’t think so. But we’ve got things in town we’ve got to do that may, at some point, cause the taxes to go up.”
Conn said this process is going as she hoped, but she noted, “I would like to hear more from FEMA and see how they view the projects over there.”
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