OLD TOWN – The people who will have to pay for a proposed new elementary school will get a chance to chime in on the project at a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

The hearing is set for 7 p.m. in the high school cafetorium. Residents will have 30 minutes to gather information about the project and the formal hearing will begin at 7:30 p.m.

A straw vote will take place at the conclusion of the public hearing that should give city officials an idea of how much community support exists for the project.

Residents will vote officially on funding the new K – 5 school on June 5. The school, to be located off Stillwater Avenue behind the Stillwater Mall, is slated to open in fall 2003.

The total cost of the project is $13,314,822 with $3,202,763 coming strictly from Old Town taxpayers and the rest from the state construction fund and other sources. Tax bills would not increase until 2002. Taxes for a home valued at $70,000 would increase by an estimated $100 a year for 20 years.

“We encourage the public to come for the informational sessions and ask questions regarding the planning and development of the school,” said Owen Maurais, superintendent. “I am hopeful the straw vote will give us a good feeling for community sentiment about the project.”

Over the last year, the building committee trimmed the cost of the project from more than $14.2 million to a little more than $13.3 million. Playgrounds and ball fields also have been reconfigured.

At previous meetings, residents have expressed concern about the impact the school’s location would have on traffic along Stillwater Avenue. Preliminary engineering recommendations support the installation of a traffic signal at the entrance of the driveway, according to Maurais.

Scott Cates, chairman of the City Council said Monday that he supports the school department’s plans.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a burden to the local taxpayers,” he said. “But, we are desperately in need of a new school. This is our opportunity to get one built at a minimal cost. If we decided to fix the old schools up, we’d probably end up spending more.”

Cates said earlier this year that he wanted to hold any possible tax increase to 2 percent.

“We met with the school board and asked them to be as cost conscious as they can in building a budget for next year,” he said. “The council asked them to look long and hard at new programs.

“On the city side, we may need to make choices between facilities and programs as well,” said Cates. “We’re not asking the school committee to do anything different from what we’re doing on the municipal side.”