Clinton residents will vote Tuesday in the statewide primary election and on the Town Meeting warrant, while also electing two members to the Board of Selectmen.

Four candidates are seeking seats on the board, including former transfer station director Mike Hachey, who announced on Facebook he is a write-in candidate.

Voters will also consider a proposed $2.8 million municipal budget, with $1.1 million to be raised through taxes.

As proposed, the 2020-21 budget represents an 8.6% increase to current spending. The spending plan includes several large expenditures, such as:

• $401,365 for Fire and Rescue.

• $345,108 for administration.

• $320,458 for the Police Department.

• $287,027 for the transfer station.

• $200,000 for road paving.

Several factors have contributed to the budget hike, including increased costs related to the Waterville dispatch contract, employee benefits, workers’ compensation insurance, tipping fees and hauling contracts for trash, building and grounds at the transfer station and paving projects on four roads.

Voters will also decide whether to authorize the town to transfer $50,000 in undesignated surplus funds to convert town streetlights to more-efficient LED fixtures.

Plans also call for renovating the Town Hall at 27 Baker St. to comply with social-distancing guidelines implemented by the state due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a post made on the town’s Facebook page, Town Manager Earla Haggerty explained the reasoning behind the project.

“None of the renovations currently being planned for 27 Baker Street were  a consideration until COVID-19 made it obvious we could not operate safely in the building’s current configuration,” Haggerty wrote.

“Social distancing requirements will not allow selectmen to continue meeting in the old conference room, so it was agreed to renovate the banquet room into the town’s official meeting room complete with a state of the art audio-visual system for broadcasting selectmen’s meetings.”

Once the 1,040-square-foot banquet room is renovated, the town will turn the old, 154-square-foot meeting room into two offices, for the code enforcement officer and the town assessor, according to Haggerty.

“This decision was driven by the need to create a safe work environment for the assessor and a separate space for the (code enforcement officer),” Haggerty wrote.

“Eliminating the crowded conditions in the current 154-square-foot office where two very important pieces of town business are conducted can no longer be considered a safe work environment for these two employees.”

In the selectmen’s races, incumbent candidate Ed Blanchard is running against Geraldine Dixon for a three-year term, and incumbent Brian Bickford is opposing write-in candidate Mike Hachey for a two-year term.

Hachey’s campaign for selectman comes a year after he was fired from his job as director of Clinton-Benton’s Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Station.

Hachey said he was wrongfully terminated by Haggerty after Hachey discussed his confusion over Benton’s delayed renewal contract with the dump with town selectmen and residents.

The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Clinton Town Office.

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