Holden Town Council approves $11.22 mill rate

HOLDEN – The Town Council approved a mill rate of $11.22 for the town at its regular meeting Monday night.

The mill rate represents the amount of property tax for each $1,000 of assessed value.

The approved mill rate was recommended by Carl Lowe of Lowe Appraisal Service Inc., who recently completed the first revaluation of the town since 1992.

The previous mill rate was $19.98. Property tax revenue for the town should stay about the same, Town Manager Larry Varisco said last month, because the new mill rate will be applied to higher assessed values.

In other action, the council approved road work on sections of Copeland Hill Road and Wiswell Road.

Councilor John Bryant said the council should make another proposal for a new public safety building to be voted on in November.

The town has outgrown its current facility, public safety Director Jim Ellis said last month.

Residents voted down two previous proposals at last month’s annual town meeting.

“We would not be doing our jobs as councilors if we didn’t push this issue,” Bryant said.

Also at the meeting, longtime residents Norris Nickerson, 66, and his wife, Linda, 54, criticized the Town Council for failing to help after the couple discovered gasoline in their well water in May 2004.

The couple said the contamination had rendered their property worthless and they are unable to do basic household tasks such as cooking or showering.

“I think it’s a disgrace … that you folks have not looked once into this issue,” Linda Nickerson said.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has tested the couple’s property, but has failed to find the source of the gasoline, Norris Nickerson said.

The Nickersons said they want the town to pressure the DEP to try again to discover the source of contamination.

Chairwoman Ellen Campbell told the Nickersons that she and the council will look into the matter.