Guilford budget depends on solid waste disposal option

GUILFORD – A proposed 2003 spending plan of $429,007 that currently requires less from taxation will be discussed at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, by the 21-member budget advisory committee.

Although the proposed municipal budget reflects about $6,000 less in taxation than the current budget, that difference could be erased depending on which option residents select in March for solid waste disposal.

Town Manager Tom Goulette and a local committee are developing the cost of solid waste options that are available to the town. As a start, Goulette has recommended raising $140,000 from taxation and using the reimbursement from the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. for solid waste. The town also has a contingency account of about $29,000 that could be used in the event another employee is needed for the solid waste program.

The budget includes a 3 percent cost-of-living payroll increase, according to William Thompson, chairman of the board of selectmen.

Town officials also have budgeted $3,000 from taxation that will be used as a local match in the event the town receives a Community Development Block Grant for downtown improvements and housing.

An additional $3,000 has been included in the assessing fund to help cover the cost of restructuring the assessing process, Thompson said.

Service agencies have requested a total of $20,536, but town officials have budgeted $16,950 for the programs. Town officials have proposed paring the requests of Penquis CAP by $1,018 and the Homemaker Service by $949.

Because a new war memorial is being installed in the downtown, it has been proposed that $3,000 from surplus and the approximately $1,000 that remains in the war memorial maintenance account from last year be used to support the project.

The carried-forward funds in the federal land account – funds received from cutting timber on land given to the town by the federal government – will lapse to surplus this year. Timber harvesting on the property has been completed for the next 10 years.

As currently proposed, the municipal budget, along with a county tax of $160,555, an estimated school tax of $942,702, and an overlay of $54,837, reflects an overall increase of $8,208 from the 2002 spending plan.