CORINNA — Residents on Saturday will vote on a proposed $1.3 million municipal budget and decide whether to join other communities to send solid waste to a proposed natural gas plant.

Town Meeting will be held at 10 a.m. in the Corinna Elementary School gymnasium. Residents will vote on a 48-article warrant.

On Friday, voters will elect two selectmen and two representatives for the Regional School Unit 19 board of directors in a ballot election. There are no contested elections. Polls at the Town Office will be open from 8 a.m. to8 p.m.

One of the issues voters are expected to debate Saturday is whether Corinna should sign a 15-year contract to send its solid waste to a proposed waste-to-natural gas plant in Hampden. The town now sends its trash to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company, or PERC, an incinerator in Orrington, as part of the Mid-Maine Solid Waste Association, a group of nearby communities that pool their solid waste.

In 2018, Corinna’s contract to send waste to PERC will expire, as will the company’s agreement to sell electricity to Emera Maine at above-market rates. According to the Municipal Review Committee, the association representing the more than 180 communities sending waste to PERC, the incinerator no longer will be economically viable after 2018, and fees for taking waste there will rise sharply. PERC officials insist the plant still will be viable after 2018, but the MRC is pushing a plan for its members instead to send waste to a new, state-of-the-art gas plant proposed by Maryland-based Fiberight.

Corinna selectmen recommend the MRC plan, according to Town Manager Serena Bemis-Goodall.

“We’ve been with MRC. They have always been very good at keeping us going in the right direction,” Bemis-Goodall said. “Looking at the numbers that were originally proposed, Fiberight seems to the choice that would be best for Corinna,” she added.

Voters also will decide whether to adopt a proposed $1,350,891 municipal budget for next year. About $642,830 of the budget would be paid for from taxes; the rest is covered by other town revenue, Bemis-Goodall said.

The budget for municipal services does not cover county and school taxes, she added. With those expenses added in, the total budget for next year is roughly $2.6 million.

The proposed budget might increase the town’s tax rate from $17.80 per $1,000 of property valuation to $18 per $1,000 if voters approve a measure to appropriate $25,000 to cover the 2 percent discount the town offers property owners who pay their taxes within 30 days of mailing. If the measure fails, the discount will expire, she said.

The town has offered the discount before, but it hasn’t passed an article to cover its cost, Bemis-Goodall added.

Peter McGuire — 861-9239

pmcguire@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @PeteL_McGuire

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