READFIELD — Approval of the budget will be the main business at the annual Town Meeting Thursday.

When voters gather at 6 p.m. at Readfield Elementary School, they will decide whether the town will take ownership of a private road, whether a truck used at cemeteries can be put to general town use and whether the town should relinquish rights to two properties the fire department has used as water holes.

They also will vote on budget articles that would reduce municipal taxes by 4 percent, from $852,091 to $817,851.

When tax increases are included for Kennebec County and the Regional School Unit 38 budget that was on Tuesday’s ballot, Readfield property owners will pay about 2 percent more in taxes, which will probably raise the town’s mill rate from 15.8 to 16.2, Town Manager Stefan Pakulski said.

Readfield’s proposed municipal budget increases spending by $284,564, but there are also revenue increases totaling $318,804, mostly due to grants such as the one to build the new sidewalk through town.

In addition, the budget sets aside $200,000 for new fairgrounds athletic fields, but no tax dollars can be used to pay for them. The money will be spent only if provided through grants.

Other new spending in the proposed budget includes $15,000 to repair the Lovejoy Pond Dam, $18,000 for traffic calming in the area of downtown Readfield and $38,000 to make upgrades to the transfer station.

The select board and budget committee have recommended increasing the municipal maintenance appropriation from $51,962 to $68,038 because the town has hired a full-time maintenance worker after the public works department was dismantled last year.

The requested appropriation for roads and drainage is $763,050, down from $782,752 approved at a special town meeting in September.

The decrease is mostly because of the fact that last year Readfield spent about $300,000 to pay off its leases of public works equipment when selling it, as mandated by the voter referendum that abolished the public works department, Pakulski said. That was a one-time expense.

Town officials are requesting more, however, to pay for vehicle maintenance and summer road work that was not done last year while the public works situation was in flux.

Where increased spending is not covered by grants, town officials have proposed reducing the tax commitment by drawing $150,000 from carry-forward funds left behind by the public works department, plus $250,000 from Readfield’s surplus.

Pakulski said taking money from the public works carry-forward account is a one-time use.

Budget Committee Chairman Bill Bayreuther said town officials and staff went into the budgeting process expecting that RSU 38 would have to request more money from residents because of reductions in state and federal funding.

“That’s always there as the backdrop for us,” Bayreuther said. “We have, as we have in the past few years, been able to hold the line and be able to come in with the municipal side of the budget slightly lower than the previous year.”

Also at Town Meeting, voters will decide whether Balsam Drive, part of a subdivision off Route 41, should become a town road, which the Board of Selectmen has recommended.

Readfield will have to pay $2,381 to for plowing of the road in the first year, but if town maintenance of the road spurs more construction in the high-end development, the increased property taxes could far exceed the cost of plowing and long-term upkeep of the road, Pakulski said.

Susan McMillan — 621-5645

smcmillan@mainetoday.com