Frenchville approves lower ’98 budget> Expenditures $15,000 less than 1997 figure

FRENCHVILLE — Local voters asked few questions Tuesday night at the annual Frenchville town meeting, where $483,447 was approved for municipal expenditures during 1998.

Of the approved expenditures, $150,000 will come from excise tax collections, $18,800 from last year’s unappropriated excise tax collections, $8,000 from interest income, $110,000 from state revenue sharing, and $196,947 will be paid from property tax collections.

According to Town Manager Philip Levesque, expenditures approved by voters were $15,000 less than in the 1997 budget.

“If county taxes and education costs remain as they were in 1997, we could see a drop in taxes of just under 1 mill,” said Levesque.

With flat costs for the county tax and education, Frenchville’s total budget could be $989,000, said Levesque.

That would put property tax expenditures at $632,156, about $15,000 less than the 1997 property tax commitment of $647,303.

It was noted the town expects about $301,800 from the state this year. The town also expects to raise $19,450 from other receipts.

Voters also approved expending $89,600 from user fees of the town’s sewer department for operation of the facility.

In elections, there was no opposition for four positions. One, a three-year term on the SAD 33 board of directors, had no condidates.

Elected to the Board of Selectmen for three years were incumbents Rosaire Paradis and Michael Ouellette. Elected to the SAD 33 board of directors were incumbent Vernon Labbe and, as a write-in candidate with two votes, Euclide Bourgoin, a former member of that board.

Thirty-seven voters went to the polls Tuesday.