St. Albans residents will consider an ordinance regulating the operation of pawnbrokers and Springer Road repairs at Saturday’s Town Meeting.

Voters will consider $1 million in appropriations, a 2 percent increase from the previous year.

Out of the total budget, $76,000 is earmarked to come from reserve accounts and not from taxes.

The annual town election will be held from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at the Town Hall. The Town Meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Town Hall. About 50 of the town’s 1,383 registered voters attended last year’s meeting.

There are three open Budget Committee positions, but only one person has filed papers to run for the committee, Town Manager Rhonda Stark said.

“We couldn’t generate any interest,” she said.

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Stark said anyone interested in running for the nine-member committee, which makes recommendations on annual budget requests, should run as a write-in candidate during Friday’s election.

The budget includes a request to take $40,000 from savings and use the money to buy a compressed air foam system for one of the town’s firetrucks.

Stark said voters also will be asked to raise money to update the town’s comprehensive plan, which was last updated in 1993. The voters will be asked to approve spending $16,000 to hire a consultant for that project and another $4,000 for incidental costs.

To repair failing culverts on Springer Road, residents have been asked to take $120,000 out of surplus, Stark said. She said the town had $955,846 saved in surplus as of December 31.

“The culverts are failing and in very bad shape,” said Stark. By using the money from surplus, the town would not have to use property tax money for the repairs.

After getting a request from a man interested in setting up shop as a pawnbroker, Stark said the town decided to draft an ordinance to regulate the business. She said the town doesn’t have an ordinance that allows and regulates pawnbrokers.

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The proposed ordinance would require that pawnbrokers in St. Albans be licensed by the Board of Selectmen for a $50 fee, not do business with minors, keep records of transactions and share information with the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.

The town won’t know how the budget will affect the property tax rate until after county and school district budgets are finalized. The town’s current property tax rate is $19.40 per $1,000 of property valuation. For property valued at $100,000, for example, the property tax would be $1,940.

Kaitlin Schroeder — 861-9252

kschroeder@centralmaine.com


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