MEXICO — The proposed $4.03 million municipal budget for the coming year  includes a slight property tax increase, the first in the past five years, Town Manager Raquel Welch-Day.

It compares to $3.72 million for fiscal year 2024, which ends June 30, she said.

If voters approve the proposal, “there may a slight tax increase, but it’ll be the first increase since I became town manager five years ago, and maybe longer than that,” Welch-Day said.

She said wages and insurance are the biggest reasons for the increase.

The town’s share of the county budget is up 16% and the Regional School Unit 10 budget is up about 7%.

“Keeping the budget increase down was difficult,” Welch-Day said. “I really had to do some cutting. We definitely didn’t get everything we wanted.”

She said she and Police Chief Roy Hodsdon “gave up quite a bit of money in our raises. We gave up on making the town garage part-time position into a full-time position. We also made cuts from various accounts.”

A question on the June 11 ballot asks voters if they want to accept the Meroby Elementary School building from RSU  10.

The proposal is to move all town offices there, except public works.

“If they don’t accept it, then those plans are dead in the water and we’ll have to go in a different direction,” Welch-Day.

The town is still waiting for estimates involved to use the building, she said. “But it’s going to cost significantly less to make that move rather than building a whole new structure.”

The town purchased 22 acres on Roxbury Road when it was thought the new fire station would be built there.

An article on the warrant asks whether to allow a solar farm by Nexamp on seven of those acres.

“It’s not even near the road,” Welch-Day said. “So if something happened and we needed to put the fire station there, there’s still enough room.”

There will be nothing on the June or November ballots regarding selling any town buildings, she said.

The town has $1.1 million in surplus for unexpected expenses for fiscal year 2025.

In elections June 11, Selectman Richard Philbrick is seeking another three-year term. Edward Varnum is also seeking that position.

Tim Hines and Melinda Stewart are vying for a two-year seat on the board.

Balloting will be held in the Calvin Lyons Meeting Room downstairs at the Mexico Town Office at 134 Main St.