Island Falls to vote on new fire station

ISLAND FALLS – Residents will be asked to approve a more than $500,000 municipal budget and consider allocating money to build a new fire station when they gather for their annual town meeting Monday evening.

Town Clerk Cheryl McNally said Thursday that this year’s budget is up $29,000 over last year. She said that $20,000 of that increase is due to the need to purchase new accounting software for the town office.

The town’s current software is more than 10 years old.

A significant item on the warrant deals with the fire station. The town is considering taking out a 10-year loan to finance the new station, which would be added on to the existing municipal building.

The current fire station is aging and no longer meets the department’s needs.

On Monday evening, voters will be asked to approve $26,000 towards the first payment of the loan. The total project is expected to cost approximately $200,000.

If approved, the move would put all of the town’s emergency services under one roof.

There is little competition for seats on the Board of Selectmen and the Community School District 9 school board.

Incumbent Albert Clukey is running unopposed for a three-year selectmen’s seat, and incumbents Gregory Ryan and Angela Rockwell also are running unopposed for two open seats on the CSD 9 school board.

Voting will take place at the Island Falls Municipal Building from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the town meeting following in the same location at 7 p.m.