Municipal spending from taxation will be approached a little differently in Palmyra this year when residents vote Saturday at Town Meeting, according to the town’s administrative assistant, Priscilla Jones.

Jones, the selectmen and the Budget Committee are calculating spending before reductions from surplus and state revenue sharing are subtracted. That figure comes in at $918,853. The town budget adopted at last year’s meeting came in at $808,099.

“We are proposing to take $400,000 of anticipated revenues and surplus,” Jones said. “Before, we’d only raise the amount that we needed and take funds later from surplus or revenue. This year, instead of doing it in separate accounts, we’re doing that at the end to reduce our commitment, and that will bring us back close to last year’s appropriations.”

Polls will be open for elections from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at the Palmyra Community Center. Voting from the floor of the annual business meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the same location.

The town is proposing to use $100,000 more from surplus to lower its commitment this year than it did last year. Jones, who took over the vacant position in May when Susan Morton resigned, said municipal spending will increase slightly if voters approve all of the spending articles Saturday, but not enough to affect the current tax rate of $16.60 for every $1,000 in property valuation. The exact tax rate will not be known until after the school budget and county taxes are known, she said.

Voters also will be asked to borrow up to $850,000 at an estimated interest rate of 2.5 percent for road paving, which wouldn’t affect this year’s tax rate but would affect next year’s, Jones said. She said interest rates are low and now is a good time to borrow.

The total debt service, including $64,758 in interest on the bond, would bring the total borrowing package to $914,758, according to the town report.

Voters will be asked to spend $120,000 for town charges Saturday, including $84,000 in salaries; $50,000 for anticipated gravel for town roads; and $200,000 for public works accounts, including $27,000 for summer roads, $55,000 for winter roads, $50,000 for capital road improvements and $68,000 for equipment and the town garage. They also will be asked to appropriate $55,000 for fire protection and $50,000 to maintain the Community Center.

Voters also will be asked to appropriate a total of $7,909 for such projects as the soup kitchen, the food bank, the Family Violence Project, the Irving Tanning Community Center in Hartland and the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville.

Other spending proposals Saturday will include $46,520 for the second of four payments for three public works trucks on a bond issued in 2014, $27,000 for the final payment on funds borrowed for the town garage and $87,392 for the first payment on a paving bond approved by voters at last year’s Town Meeting.

In townwide elections Friday, there are three candidates for two open seats on the Board of Selectmen for three-year terms. Joann Brown, Camille Derosier and Vondell Dunphy, an incumbent, all are seeking the positions.

In other voting, there are two candidates on the ballot to finish a Select Board term that Jones had been serving before she became the administrative assistant. Brian Barrows, an incumbent selectman whose term expires this year, will face off against Billy Wheeler for a one-year term.

Jennifer Watson is seeking an open seat on the Regional School Unit 19 board of directors for a three-year term, and Corey Dow and David Mendell are running for to finish the term of Darren Briggs, which expires in 2018.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow

Copy the Story Link