THORNDIKE — Voters in Thorndike breezed through Saturday’s annual Town Meeting, needing only about two hours to approve every article, including a proposed $843,762 municipal budget, according to Town Clerk Rose Hill.
All three members of the Board of Selectmen were reelected Friday, each running unopposed.
A change approved at last year’s Town Meeting staggers selectmen’s terms to eventually make them each three years, with one seat coming up for election each year.
Doreen Berry was elected to a three-year term, Charles Greenburg to a two-year term and Jeff Trafton to a one-year term.
The town previously had one-year terms for members of the Board of Selectmen, with residents voting every year to fill each seat. The now-staggered three-year terms are intended to allow those who develop experience in town government to remain on the board longer and apply that experience, according to Hill.
“Most towns do it that way,” she said.
At $843,762, the municipal budget is up $56,163, or 7.1%, from last year.
The Waldo County budget and the school budget are still being decided so it is not yet clear if the increase to the town budget will result in a property tax increase.
Saturday’s meeting, which drew 68 residents, included discussion about road paving, although spending on roads is down this year, according to Hill. The newly approved road budget is $456,050, a decrease of $27,789, or 6.1%, from last year.
The Fire Department budget increased by $73,525, or 202%, this year to $110,000. A majority of the department’s budget increase, $60,000, is to come from the town’s surplus account, not taxation, reducing the tax burden.
A bulk of the Fire Department’s increase includes $50,000 for a truck replacement fund and $8,000 to begin replacing the self-contained breathing apparatuses, or air packs, that firefighters use, fire Chief Michael Dionne wrote in a letter included in this year’s town report.
State Sen. Chip Curry, D-Belfast, who is up for reelection in November, and two candidates for Waldo County sheriff addressed the audience Saturday.
Chief Deputy Jason Trundy of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office, a Democrat, is expected to face Chief Todd Boisvert of the Searsport Police Department, a Republican, in November.
The new sheriff will succeed Trundy’s boss, retiring Sheriff Jeffrey Trafton, a Republican.
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