Town meetings

Corinna

Several key issues are expected to draw comments and controversy at the Corinna annual town meeting, which will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 8, at the Corinna School gymnasium.

Town clerk Michelle Dumollin said voters should come early as coffee, fruit and pastries will be served.

Dumollin said that voters will decide between borrowing $2 million to repair town roads or downscaling that to $200,000. She said the higher debt, a 10-year loan with the first annual payment of more than $300,000, will not affect this year’s mill rate since the payment will not be due until 2009. Dumollin said interest rates are low right now so that makes borrowing attractive.

“The sad part is that $2 million wouldn’t even do all the roads. The estimate for that was $4 million. But this will give us a jump-start,” she said.

Dumollin said the selectmen have not recommended a specific figure but are putting the articles to the people in response to road conditions complaints.

There also is an article to raise $85,000, which would be combined with $85,000 already in a reserve account, to purchase another plow truck.

There are 10 land use articles, Dumollin said, including one that will deal with regulating wood-fired boilers.

Elections will be held from 9:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, March 7, at the fire annex. Four candidates are vying for two selectmen’s seats. Roger Whitney is seeking re-election and is challenged by Gerry Marshall, Darlene Sharp and Rob Veazie.

David Sharp is seeking re-election to the SAD 48 board of directors and Barbara Marshall and write-in candidate Scott Richard are vying for a one-year seat on the board.

Newport

The Newport town meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 8, with voting on Friday, March 7. Both will take place at the Sebasticook Valley Community Center on North Street.

Richard Clark and Carl Smith III are vying for a single selectman’s seat, formerly held by John Buckland, and Roger Carr and Timothy York are seeking a position on the SAD 48 board of directors.

The town’s budget is proposed at $2,304,005, which is a $140,619 increase over last year.

The town could opt to put $15,000 more funds than last year into road improvements. There also will be a move to add between $3,000 and $5,000 to the Public Works budget to cover the costs of recent storms, which have overdrawn the account.

Also proposed is construction of a salt-sand shed. Town Manager James Ricker said $100,000 will be taken from surplus, $50,000 was appropriated last year, and another $175,000 will be bonded.

Also, for the first time, an operating budget for the Newport Cultural Center is included in the municipal budget. Currently under construction, the center could open as early as June or July, Ricker said. Last year, $17,000 was appropriated for fundraising costs and other expenses. This year, $69,000 is proposed.

The budget also continues to support a school resource officer.

Palmyra

Palmyra voters will decide Saturday whether to spend $334,000 on major road improvements or scale back to a level that will not affect the mill rate.

The annual town meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 8, at the town hall.

Elections will be held on Friday, March 7, for two selectman’s seats, currently held by Herb Brinkley and Priscilla Jones. Brinkley and Jones are running again and are being challenged by Nathanial Foss and Ronald Rowe. Kelly Rowe is seeking re-election as a SAD 48 director.

Selectman Dan Sprague said the municipal budget is “in pretty good shape” and comparable to last year. The roads issue, however, could increase the budget’s bottom line by 40 percent.

“If we do the roads as proposed, with the price of gas, oil, wood, everything you need to survive, I don’t think our residents on fixed incomes can afford it,” Sprague said.

The plan would be to spend $208,000 on three miles of dirt roads and $126,000 to resurface Gee and Wyman roads.

“We spent a half-million last year out of our surplus, most on roads,” Sprague said. “If the voters want to scale back, cut the dirt road work in half and reject the resurfacing, that would be acceptable, something we could afford,” Sprague said.