CHESTERVILLE — At annual Town Meeting Monday, March 13, voters will be asked to approve a 2024 budget for which the select board and budget committee propose different amounts. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at the David Archer Town Hall, 409 Dutch Gap Road.

The budget proposed by the select board is about $1.48 million, an increase of $88,909 or 6.5% more than the current spending plan of almost $1.39 million. The Budget Committee’s recommendation is $47,920 less at almost $1.43 million, an increase of 3.03%. Neither proposal includes $450,000 voters will be asked to approve to purchase a fire truck. Also not included are amounts for county and school taxes.

The Budget Committee recommended an additional $280 under administration for the janitor, committee member Anne Lambert said Tuesday, March 7. The committee cut $20,000 from the fire department reserve account and $10,000 from the public works reserve account to try to keep taxes from increasing as much given this year’s budget amounts, she noted. The committee also removed $17,700 under public works in part because it questioned why gravel was being purchased instead of using the town’s gravel pit, she added.

Regarding the $450,000 being asked for to purchase a fire truck, there is no truck in mind, Select Board Vice Chairman John Archer said Wednesday. In previous years a truck has been found, but there was no money approved to purchase it, he noted. “We want the money there so we have it in case one is found,” he added.

If approved that article authorizes the Selectmen and Fire Department to use funds from the Fire Department Capital Reserve and borrow sufficient funds to purchase and equip a replacement truck [no older than 2010] for Engine 1 with the purchase and equipment total not to exceed $450,000, according to the town warrant.

Voters will also be asked to raise and appropriate from taxation $3,770, to appropriate the 2022 carry forward of $23,627 from recreation, and apply $1,373 from ARPA funds [appropriated in 2022] for a total budget of $28,770 for the playground; creating a special revenue fund where any donations received for the playground during the year will be immediately available for appropriation from this fund.

A special town meeting was held Sept. 1, 2022, to appropriate up to $25,000 to build a playground at the Town Office beside the basketball courts and make necessary improvements.

In an email Tuesday, March 7, Katlin Hilton, a member of the playground committee wrote, “We recently accepted a bid to build a playground here at the town office. We had a very generous citizen donate a [four] bay swing set in honor of John Gee.”

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