MOSCOW — Residents will vote on the 2012 budget at the annual Town Meeting on Monday.

The proposed total budget of $449,553 is an increase of $13,352 from last year’s budget. However, the amount to be raised by taxation, $334,209, is only $3,492 more.

Residents will vote at the Town Hall from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Monday. There are no contested races. Town Meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at Moscow Elementary School.

“It’s not much different than last year,” First Selectman Donald Beane said about the proposed budget. “We took a little more out of surplus, so we wouldn’t have to raise much more.”

The Upper Kennebec Valley Ambulance Service is requesting $55,545, up from Moscow’s contribution of $31,581 last year. The amount will likely be reduced at town meeting by a couple thousand dollars because the agency’s projected budget changed after the town warrant was printed, Beane said.

In recent years the service has had fewer calls but seen more patients without insurance, according to the service’s records. With that, the cost of fuel, supplies and payroll has increased, all resulting in less income and the need for increased contributions.

Laurie Laweryson, 50, of North Anson, the service’s former co-coordinator, was charged with stealing money from the service and fired Feb. 13 by the board of directors.

Laweryson was summoned on a charge of class C theft for allegedly using the service’s gas card to buy about $2,000 worth of fuel for her personal use, according to Maine State Police Trooper Chris Crawford. She has not yet appeared in court.

Selectmen are asking to replace the town’s culvert steam cleaner, which is used to melt ice, at a price of $3,700.

They are recommending no amounts for some nonprofits, such as the American Red Cross and the Children’s Center, which offers child care, parent education and therapeutic services.

“Every year we get so many requests from different organizations that a few of them are not recommended,” Beane said.

Town officials are recommending $30,000 for maintaining roads and bridges, $78,000 for snow plowing and sanding, $50,107 for the transfer station and $44,500 for town officers’ salaries.

They are proposing to use $20,600 in grant money and $15,000 from surplus to resurface and widen a portion of Donigan Road.

Erin Rhoda — 612-2368

erhoda@centralmaine.com