Town meetings

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Abbot

Residents will decide at the annual town meeting whether to enter into a three-year or a six-year contract for winter road maintenance. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, March 21, at the town hall.

The town typically has had three-year contracts, but this year Farrin Bros. and Smith Inc. offered a six-year contract, according to First Selectman Jan Ronco. The proposed three-year contract has a price per mile of $2,200, $2,300 and $2,400. If residents approve the six-year contract, the price per mile for the 2008-2009 through the 2010-2011 season will be $2,450, $2,500 and $2,550, respectively.

Ronco said this year’s municipal budget, if approved by residents, would require $124,200 from taxation. Town officials have proposed the use of excise tax funds to pay for roads and paving.

Although county costs have increased by 17 percent, it is not known what the town will be required to pay for education in 2005, Ronco said. That funding request along with the county costs will decide the fate of the town’s mill rate of $14.60 per $1,000 valuation, according to Ronco.

As requested by a local resident, voters will act on a proposed ordinance titled “Public Bidding on Contracts for Goods and Services by the Town of Abbot.” The ordinance would require town officials to solicit bids for goods and services that cost $2,000 or more.

An offer from Bernard and Regina Richardson of Gales Road also will need action. The couple has offered to sell the town a plot of land on the sharp curve of the Gales Road for $500. This would allow the town to improve the curve should the town choose to do so in future years.

Elections will include town clerk, tax collector, constable, treasurer, a selectman and a SAD 4 director.

Brownville

Legislative changes in the state’s homestead exemption for homeowners will cause Brownville’s tax rate to increase by about 2 mills even though municipal officials budgeted frugally, according to a town official.

The annual town meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, March 21, at the Brownville Junction Alumni Building. The polls for municipal elections will be open from noon until 5 p.m.

LD 1, which includes changes in the Homestead Exemption Act, will cause Brownville to lose more than $2.7 million in valuation, according to Town Manager Sophia Wilson. If it were not for the Legislature’s property tax relief package, the mill rate would have remained at $22.90 per $1,000 valuation rather than increase to an anticipated $24.90 per $1,000 valuation, she said Friday.

The 2005 municipal spending plan is actually about $800 less than last year’s approved budget, even considering a $3,000 increase for Penquis Solid Waste, Wilson said.

Residents will be asked to refinance a $255,000 sewer bond for a savings of $38,000 and to borrow up to $50,000 for a new backhoe with the first payment to be made in 2006.

A donation of $10,000 from Lake View Plantation to buy materials and supplies to rehabilitate and upgrade the public boat launch and parking at Knight’s Landing will need action by residents.

Also included in the 58-article warrant is $5,000 to match a comprehensive plan implementation grant; $30,500 for the town’s share of the 2005 Eastern Piscataquis Business and Industrial Park mortgage payment; and to expend the $25,000 set aside last year for the town’s share of the Piscataquis Development Corp.’s budget.

Municipal offices to be filled include two selectmen, a SAD 41 director and two budget committee members.

Atkinson

Residents will be asked at the annual town meeting next week to authorize selectmen to use $138,256 from revenues and surplus to help reduce the 2005 tax commitment.

The annual town meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Monday, March 21, at the Atkinson Fire Hall.

The money to reduce the tax commitment includes $20,000 from surplus and $64,000 from state revenues.

Other action on the 43-article warrant will include adoption of a dog nuisance ordinance that spells out the enforcement and penalties for dogs that habitually bark. If adopted, the fine will be $50 for the first offense, $75 for the second offense, and $100 for each offense thereafter.

Elections will include town clerk, SAD 41 school director, third selectman, treasurer, collector of taxes, and constable.

Guilford

Residents will vote next week whether to change the office of town clerk from an elected to an appointed position, effective at next year’s annual town meeting.

This year’s town meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Monday, March 21, at Piscataquis Community Middle School.

Among the 30-article warrant, residents will be asked to authorize selectmen to apply for federal financial assistance under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to develop the Don Osborne Memorial Playground and to raise the necessary matching funds.

Also up for adoption are amendments to town ordinances and an ordinance that would govern yard sales and flea markets.

Town positions that will be filled are town clerk, a selectman, trustee to the Guilford-Sangerville Sanitary District, two SAD 4 directors, and three trustees for the Guilford Memorial Library.