Albion voters will be asked to approve a slight municipal budget increase at Town Meeting Saturday.

The proposed budget, $924,928, is an increase of $27,650 over last year.

Elections will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Besse Building on Main Street. The Town Meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Albion Elementary School.

Selectwoman Beverly Bradstreet said the additional money raised would go mostly toward road repairs, which have a proposed budget of $175,000 as compared to $155,000 last year. That $20,000, combined with an expected $5,000 reduction in state support for that line item, accounts for nearly all of the 3 percent increase.

Bradstreet said no specific road projects have been identified but that they would be selected after the spring thaw.

“The selectmen and the road commissioner will drive around and see what needs it the most,” Bradstreet said.

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While the municipal budget is projected to increase, the amount town residents will have to pay will go down, Bradstreet said, because the town will be anticipating more money from excise taxes.

In the budget, the amount raised from taxation will decrease slightly, from $382,728 to $376,666.

Bradstreet said that the change in the town’s property tax rate, currently $14.50 per $1,000 in taxable property value, won’t be known until budgets have been approved for the county and School Administrative District 49.

Kayla Dow is the only candidate for an open position on the board of selectmen. Dow is a certified nursing assistant, and expects to graduate from a nursing program at Kennebec Valley Community College this spring.

The seat was opened when Mary Lee Rounds, who was elected in 2011, resigned in late October, citing concerns about a lack of adequate documentation for town business, which she said could expose the town to unnecessary liability.

Bradstreet and Selectman Mike Getchell have been the only two members of the board since then.

The 56-item warrant includes a question on whether voters will support the creation of a grant advisory committee, which would seek out grant opportunities for the town and report those opportunities back to the board of selectmen.

Another warrant item asks voters to approve naming a meeting room in the Besse Building after Mickey Marden in recognition of the contributions he and his family have made to the town.

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling — 861-9287 mhhetling@centralmaine.com Twitter: @hh_matt


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