CORNVILLE — Road maintenance and paving projects for the coming year will be among the major topics of discussion Saturday at the annual Town Meeting. 

Voting on the 29-article town warrant from the floor of the meeting is set to begin at 10 a.m. at the Cornville Town Hall, on West Ridge Road.

Town officials said there is a lot of uncertainty about municipal spending because of the governor’s proposal to cut off state revenue sharing.

“Everybody is kind of up in the air if they want to spend money or not because of proposed cuts to revenue sharing,” Town Clerk Tammy Chamberland said.

“They don’t know what they can afford,” First Selectman Melvin Blaisdell said.

He said if residents approve all of the proposed spending on roads, the annual budget would increase by about $133,000 from last year’s $432,000 to a projected $562,000. 

He said spending proposed at the annual Town Meeting accounts only for the municipal side of the town budget and does not include spending for schools or the county tax.

One spending request, for $88,000 to pave Hilton Hill Road, comes with a recommendation from the Budget Committee not to spend the money, Blaisdell said. Without the spending for the Hilton Hill proposal, spending would increase only about $40,000 in the coming year, he said.

The current tax rate is $16.60 for every $1,000 of property valuation.

Other spending proposals for Cornville roads at the Town Meeting include taking $36,000 from surplus to balance the 2012 winter roads account.

Voters also will be asked to appropriate $135,000 for this year’s winter roads account, $75,000 for summer road work and $30,000 for highway equipment, with the unspent balance going into the Highway Equipment Fund.

Residents also will be asked to spend $30,000 to buy a plow truck.

Elections are set for 1 to 8 p.m. Friday. There are no contested races.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com