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Sunday, March 18, 2007

Voters at Saturday's town meeting allocated $82,700 to improve the transfer station.

The total municipal budget approved was about $1.8 million, or $200,000 more than the 2006 budget, Town Manager Dennis Keschl said.ÝThe lion's share of the increase is a result of the funding for the transfer station.

The station became a topic of concern late last summer, when customer complaints prompted several selectpersons and the town manager to tour the facility.

Selectpersons later decided that they needed to fix the working conditions and improve efficiency there. Part of their plan involves a $7,500 independent study of the station's operations.

While the study would guide the way to improvements, selectpersons and the town manager have settled on a list of tasks they think should be completed and funded in the meantime, Keschl said.

The whole project will cost about $83,000.

Town officials believe the improvement at the transfer station will pay for itself within the first five years, Keschl said.

The tax rate in 2006 was $11.58 per $1,000 of personal property. Town Clerk and Tax Collector Cheryl Cook said recently she is not sure how the proposed budget will affect the tax rate, because the selectmen wait to set the rate until June, when they get the Messalonskee School District budget.

In Friday's election, Richard W. Damren Jr. and Christopher W. Merrow were re-elected to the Board of Selectpersons, Laura Corbett was re-elected to the Maine School Administrative District 47 Board of Directors, and Maurice Childs was re-elected as the town's road commissioner.

-- Blethen Maine News Service