Town Meetings

Beddington

The annual town meeting and election of officers will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at the Town Hall.

Nominations from the floor will seat three selectmen, a town clerk, a treasurer and a tax collector in one-year terms.

Ronald Varin, second selectman, said Wednesday that taxpayers raised $90,000 last year to support the municipal budget, education and county taxes. Other income revenues also funded the budgets.

He doesn’t expect the tax amount to change this year.

The largest taxpayer is International Paper with woodlands covering most of the township. Taxes also are assessed on approximately 300 leased camp lots around lakes, ponds and rivers. The year-round population of 30 increases seasonally when camps are occupied.

The area is noted for its blueberry crops, hunting and fishing and snowmobiling.

Four students are tuitioned to school in Cherryfield.

Fire departments in Beddington and neighboring Deblois have an arrangement to share coverage, according to Varin.

Addison

Local officials in this community of 1,200 people are hoping the tax requirement for the proposed municipal budget will be lower than the $234,000 raised last year.

Arleta Grant, treasurer, doubted the town’s tax rate of $14.40 per $1,000 in property valuation would stay the same because of increases in school expenditures and the county tax.

The annual town meeting and elections will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, at the D.W. Merritt School. Nominations from the floor will seat the following officers: one selectman for three years; three overseers of general assistance for one year; two SAD 37 directors, one for three years and one for one year.

The Addison Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary will prepare a 5:30 p.m. baked bean supper at the Town Hall.

Last year, the school budget was $956,932.Towns in SAD 37 will share the cost of adding 13 classrooms to Narraguagus High School, a project approved by district voters in December. They also will have expenses relating to air quality control at that high school and to Milbridge Elementary School.

“We have estimated Addison’s share at the high school at $28,838.91 this year,” George Kiley, superintendent, said Wednesday. He estimated Addison’s cost for the air quality improvements at the high school at $4,942.30 and $3,927.52 at the elementary school.

“We estimated it would be 60 cents per $1,000 of their valuation,” he said.

District towns with Addison are Columbia, Columbia Falls, Harrington, Milbridge and Cherryfield. The county tax is up $18,731 to $133,727.

Snow removal expenses, one of the three budget accounts pertaining to roads, was budgeted at $15,000 higher, to $85,000.

Service contracted by the town with Pleasant River Ambulance rose from $12,000 to $15,112.

Compiled by Gloria Flannery