NEWPORT – Five men, including current and former selectmen, are vying for three seats on the board in this year’s annual elections.

Once Newport voters have elected that board, they will vote on a new budget for 2007, one about 6 percent higher than the current’s year’s budget.

It includes money to run a new cultural center, expected to be constructed this summer.

Veteran Selectman John Buckland, who has been on the board for 15 years, will sit at his last meeting later this month. Seeking to replace him is former board member Thomas Breitweg.

Selectman Richard Parlee is seeking re-election to another three-year term.

Three others – Matthew Brann, Alan Graves and Peter Roof – are vying for the unexpired term of former board member James Brann, Matthew Brann’s father, who relocated earlier this year.

New proposed expenditures include $8,000 for a town hall roof, $10,500 for movable dam gates at the North Street Dam, $7,500 to replace a snowplow, $15,138 in new debt (approved by voters last year) for playground equipment, $5,000 to be set aside for the town’s sesquicentennial celebration, and $17,356 for four months of projected expenditures to run a new cultural center.

The center, which will house the town’s library and historical society museum, will be constructed this summer on Main Street. It is hoped it will refresh Newport’s downtown and help make it a destination for tourists and other visitors.

Town Manager James Ricker said that many of the town’s expenses are out of its control, such as higher fuel costs and insurance.

One area that has plagued Newport by spiraling out of control in the past is solid waste. Through a major effort to place tighter controls on the facility, installing and enforcing a dump permit system, and putting stricter regulations on commercial haulers, Ricker said, the solid waste budget is proposed for $345,434; in 2006, the budget was $342,630.

Ricker also reported that 2006 revenues were greater than expected, and that the town has $912,000 in surplus funds, including reserve accounts.

The selectmen approved using up to $75,000 of that surplus to stabilize taxes, if necessary.

Ricker said LD 1 will allow the town to spend $127,972 more than last year, but that the proposed budget exceeds this amount. Article 3 of the town meeting warrant would allow the selectmen to exceed the cap. If it fails to pass, Ricker said, up to $20,000 would have to be cut from the proposed expenditures.

“Who can guess what the mill rate will be in July?” Ricker said Tuesday. Now it is $18.20 per $1,000 valuation. Last year, he said, Newport paid $225,000 less for education than in the previous year. “Is that savings going to continue? We’ll just have to wait and see.”

In other elections, Mary Anne Smith is running for one SAD 48 board seat while the second position has no candidates. Rodney Webb is running for Newport Water District director, and Bernard Palmer, Richard Jacques and C. Wayne Spraggins are all running for seats on the Newport Sanitary District board of trustees.

Elections will be held on Friday, March 2, followed by the annual town meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 3. Both events will be held at the Sebasticook Valley Community Center on North Street.

St. Albans

Town meeting has been set for 9 a.m. Saturday, March 3, at the town hall. Elections will be held from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, March 2.

A three-year seat on the Board of Selectmen is being sought by former Selectman Daniel Hanson and Philip Russell, a member of the town’s budget committee. This seat is currently filled by Perley Martin, who resigned to spend more time with his family.

Stacey A. Desrosiers is running unopposed for town clerk, a position she has held for 15 years.

Ervin McLeod is challenging Ronnie F. Finson for road commissioner. Finson has held the job for 21 years, and McLeod was a member of the road crew when his father was road commissioner in the 1970s.

Voters also will decide whether budget committee members will be elected by secret ballot or continue to be elected from the floor of the annual meeting.

Town Manager Larry Post said the 2007 budget represents $884,405, up from the 2006 budget of $821,392.

“This increase is because we are putting more money into reserve accounts for capital improvements,” Post said. “These accounts have been very underfunded in the last few years.”

Post said if all articles are passed, the mill rate will increase from $12.70 per $1,000 valuation, to $13. To a homeowner whose property is valued at $100,000, the increase on the tax bill would be $30.

Voters also will be asked to accept a state grant to upgrade septic systems, to establish a town way on Ross Hill Road, and to retroactively ratify 2006’s overdrafts of $3,771.

Anson

Town elections and town meeting will be held on Saturday, March 3, at Carrabec High School. Voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the town meeting will begin at 2:30 p.m.

Town Manager Robert Worthy said there are no contests in the elections and no new expenditures in the budget.

Cambridge

Town elections and town meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 3, at the town office.

Clerk Carol LaPlante said that the proposed appropriations will have no effect on the tax rate and there will be recognition at the meeting for Larry Davis, who is stepping down as a SAD 4 board member after 21 years of service.

Embden

Town elections and town meeting will be held Saturday, March 3, at the Embden Elementary School.

Voting will be held from 8 a.m. to noon. Town meeting will begin at 1 p.m.

Ripley

Town elections and the annual meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 3, at the Ripley Grange.

Solon

Town elections will be held from 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Saturday, March 3, followed by the annual town meeting at 1:30 p.m. at the Solon Elementary School.

No elections are contested.

Town Clerk Barbara Maden said new issues include borrowing up to $70,000 and taking $20,000 from reserve accounts to construct a salt-sand shed; $13,500 proposed to pave the fire station and town office lots; and $20,000 to buy a used excavator.