NEW SHARON – Voters will be asked Saturday to vote on a proposed 2006 spending plan of $504,385, a reduction of $16,451 from last year’s budget.
In all, voters have 47 articles to consider when they meet at 9 a.m. at Cape Cod Hill School for the annual town meeting.
Voters will decide the election of town officials with nominations accepted from those in attendance to fill selectmen, town clerk and treasurer seats.
Incumbent Selectmen Jim Smith, Maynard Webster and Russ Gardner, Town Clerk Rose Mary Eller and Treasurer Miriam Smith are running for re-election, Selectmen’s Chairman Jim Smith said Monday.
Residents will also be asked to consider a dog ordinance to replace the town’s invalid ordinance, Selectman Maynard Webster said Monday.
The ordinance would address keeping dogs on owners’ property, barking and stray dogs.
Voters will also consider transferring up to $130,000 from the fire station reserve fund to pay for a new sand and salt building. The station reserve has about $250,000 in it.
Instead of borrowing from another source, selectmen decided after talking to fire officials to borrow from the town’s station fund, Webster said.
The selectmen’s intent would be to reimburse the reserve fund at the rate of $10,000 a year, if voters approve the expense annually, he said. The state is expected to reimburse the town 43 percent of the cost of the sand and salt building.
Voters approved buying land on Kimball Pond Road this summer and voted to borrow up to $100,000 for the building to go with $157,000 in reserve for the project, Webster said, but with inflation and rising costs of materials the price rose about $30,000.
The building is expected to cost about $257,000, not including $12,000 in engineering fees.
Selectmen have already chosen a contractor, Duraform Steel of Hermon, to construct the building.
If voters don’t approve borrowing funds from the town for the project, Webster said there are two other borrowing options for voters to consider.
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