Town meetings

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Harrington

The annual town meeting date published in the town report brought that session to order a week earlier than usual.

“I made a boo-boo,” Jim Layton, administrative assistant, said Thursday.

“We always meet the second Monday of March. When I had the town report printed, I mistakenly had the date a week early, so we had to hold the meeting.”

Voter-approved spending to run town government was down about $20,000 from last year on Monday night.

“It’s unfortunate that municipalities have to scrutinize the budgets like we do in order to attempt to keep the taxes down,” Layton said

“We would like to do a lot of things, but we have to bite the bullet because we know the school and county [tax] will increase. We just fund the basic necessities to run the town.”

At $156,000, the highway account was the largest expenditure in the $430,000 municipal budget. Solid-waste disposal didn’t change from last year’s $70,000.

The official said funding in the recent past took care of improvements to the town’s 234 miles of roads and the town’s pier. With that work completed, budget funding could drop a little this year.

The 65 residents who turned out for the annual meeting spent 21/2 hours deciding 49 warrant articles.

Nearly an hour of that time included sometimes contentious dialogue regarding health insurance for the deputy clerk, according to Layton.

Eventually, a 29-26 vote favored funding the health and dental plan at $5,500.

The low meeting attendance from among 900 community members was “unfortunate,” according to Layton.

“So few people raise so much money,” he said. “Then the tax bills go out and we hear from a lot of people complaining about taxes going up.”

Town meetings are the last bastion of democracy, said the official, who is in his fourth year at Harrington and served 10 years as the Cherryfield town manager and two terms in the Legislature.

“It is kind of sad that people don’t take the opportunity to participate,” he added.

The tax rate of $21.50 per $1,000 in property valuation will go up, Layton said. He expected education costs to exceed $400,000 and said county assessment of the community was up by $8,000.

“Even though we cut the municipal budget, the schools and county tax will eat it up,” he said.

The most tax revenues are brought in from the Atlantic salmon pens in Pleasant Bay, the Worcester Wreath business, Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. and the highly valued homes along the shorefront.

Newly elected officers were incumbents unopposed for their seats.

They are Martha Weaver, Board of Selectmen, three years; assessor, Steve Leackfeldt, three years; James Layton, treasurer, one year; and David Weaver, road commissioner, three years.

– Compiled by Gloria Flannery

Unity

Residents who choose town officers March 28 will see a blank space after the position of first selectman. Town Clerk Susan Lombard said no candidates filed nomination papers before the deadline.

Denise Whitney announced her resignation, effective March 29, before the deadline.

Her father, Dick Whitney, died last year as the result of an auto accident after being elected last March to the post. After his death, his daughter was elected to the two-year position.

Lombard said a write-in candidate to fill the remaining one year of the term could be elected.

Leroy Trull is alone in seeking the second selectman seat, which carries a three-year term.

Incumbent Jim Murch did not seek re-election, Lombard said.

An assessor’s position on the ballot also has no candidates, she said.

Voting will be at the town office from noon to 8 p.m. Friday, March 28.

The town meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 29, at the Unity Elementary School.

Lombard described the warrant as “run-of-the-mill,” including the perennial article to put the town’s paving, plowing and sanding work out to bid.

Lee Brothers, a contractor based in Albion, does the plowing work, with the contract renewed on a year-to-year basis, Lombard said.