Limestone approves recreation building Residents also OK town, school budgets

LIMESTONE – Residents approved funding for a $450,000 community recreation center at Wednesday’s annual town meeting.

The center will have space for public meetings and a small basketball court for peewee programs.

Town officials will solicit bids from various sources on a bond issue to pay for the building.

“Our recreation center has been unsafe for use for a long time,” Town Clerk Donna Bernier said Thursday. “We’ve known for the last few years we would have to have some place to hold meetings for Scouts, senior citizens and for public meetings and started a reserve fund for that purpose.”

The proposed 125-by-60-foot multipurpose building has been in the planning stages for nearly a year. The building committee will meet next week to discuss construction plans.

Voters also approved annual budgets for the municipality and the school.

A $13,000 increase in the $1,138,924 municipal budget, including a 2.5 percent cost of living raise for town employees, was offset by increased valuation and did not change the tax rate.

The $3,006,584 school budget, however, raised the combined tax rate for the town and school by a half mill, from $23.25 to $23.75 per $1,000 in assessed property valuation.

Superintendent Paul Beaulieu said the $13,424 education increase was due to a 21.5 percent hike in health insurance plus greater expense for liability insurance and added cost of living raises for school employees.

The school’s agriculture-science position was cut to part time because of a drop in class participation. Many of the students are bused to a similar program at the Caribou Vocational Center.

The Limestone school system also added a behavioral program in the special education curriculum. The rising cost for students to attend Caribou classes prompted a decision by local school officials to start their own program.

In uncontested elections, incumbents were returned to their positions. Walter Elliott was re-elected to a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen; Diane Deeves and Robert Edgecomb, three-year terms on the school board; and Carrie Bretzke, a two-year term on the school board.

James Bell was re-elected to a three-year term on the Limestone Water and Sewer District.

– Compiled by Gloria Flannery