Litchfield and Windsor were among the central Maine towns that convened for town meetings on Saturday. Here is a summary of business that each town conducted:
LITCHFIELD
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Selectman Rayna Leibowitz said there was little discussion and even less controversy at Litchfield Town Meeting, which drew 50 to 55 voters and took about two hours.
The public works budget was amended to add $25,000 and approved at a new amount of $318,700, Leibowitz said.
Last year’s budget for public works was $247,000. The selectmen had already added money to maintain equipment, and the town will also spend much more on salt.
Leibowitz said many people complained that the roads were in very poor condition during the winter and spring, which is why people felt it was worthwhile to spend more on maintaining them. One person at the meeting said it might be better to revert to gravel roads in some places because they’re less expensive to maintain than paved roads.
Leibowitz said one of the biggest problems with Litchfield’s roads is water saturating the roadbeds. Some of the additional spending could go toward ditching that would move water away from the roadbeds.
Town Manager Trudy Lamoreau said before the meeting that if the budget were approved as presented, the tax rate would jump from $12.30 to $13.10, which means a person who owns a $100,000 home would see his or her property taxes increase $80, from $1,230 to $1,310.
The hike to the public works budget means the tax increase will be more than that.
WINDSOR
The item that received the most discussion at Windsor’s Town Meeting was an amendment to reduce the budget for road construction, said Ray Bates, chairman of the selectmen. But the amendment was defeated, so the town has $600,000 to spend on roads in the next 18 months.
“Even with the $600,000 on the roads, the taxes are going to be the same or lower, so I think that was part of what convinced people to go ahead with the $600,000,” Bates said. “And the fact that we have been very aggressive on getting roads repaired and upgraded, and people like that.”
The new road construction budget is $50,000 higher than it was this year. In six years, the town has made improvements to about 33 percent of its road mileage, and the $600,000 could boost that number near 50 percent by the end of the year.
Windsor Town Meeting took about two hours and drew 40 voters.
Bates said voters approved all spending articles at the amounts recommended by the Budget Committee, which were lower than the selectmen’s recommendations in the areas of planning and code enforcement, general assistance and the transfer station.
They decided not to take $200,000 from the undesignated fund balance, which is unspent money from previous years, to offset local taxes, because an increase in the town’s valuation — from the new Central Maine Power substation and new construction on homes — should allow Windsor to pay for the school and municipal budgets without raising the tax rate, Bates said.
Voters also gave the selectmen permission to enter into contracts of up to three years each for winter road maintenance, mowing roadsides and mowing at town buildings and cemeteries. Without that authority, selectmen are limited to reaching one-year deals with contractors for those services.
Susan McMillan — 621-5645
Twitter: @s_e_mcmillan
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