ANDOVER — Residents attending town meeting on Saturday, March 19, will face a proposed municipal budget of $577,841.
That’s $57,841 more than last year’s budget of $520,000.
The budget doesn’t include Andover’s SAD 44 assessment, which is expected in May or June.
Nor does it include a citizen’s request in warrant Article 56 to raise $30,000 in a designated account for future maintenance of Farmer’s Hill Road.
Among the 9 items in Article 3 are two to reduce and offset taxes by respectively voting to “annually take any money over $100,000 from surplus” and by using up to $100,000 collected from excise tax.
Among other money articles are these asking voters to raise and appropriate:
* $67,000 for Town Office/General Municipal accounts, up $9,500 from last year’s appropriation of $57,500.
* $10,000 for the Designated New Highway Equipment account, up $5,000 from last year.
* $5,055 in Budget Committee recommendations for donations to social service organizations, down $8,028 from the organizations requests totaling $13,083. Selectmen didn’t make a recommendation on any.
* $2,940 for the Planning Board, up $2,140 from last year’s $800 appropriation.
* $3,000 to conduct an engineering study for necessary repairs to Crockett Bridge.
* $3,000 for a new lawn tractor.
* $12,000 for Professional Services, up $2,000 from last year.
* $15,589 for Med-Care Ambulance Service, which reflects a July 2011 increase from $16 per capital to $18 per capita.
* $15,045 as the final payment due Feb. 13, 2012, for the three-year firetruck note.
* $28,185 for the fire department, down $255 from last year.
Among other things in the 70-article warrant are requests to raise and/or appropriate and pay:
* $7,600 to buy and install software and hardware to replace the existing property tax system, which is no longer supported by updates and cannot be used.
* $5,950 to buy and install software and hardware to replace the motor vehicle registration collection, excise tax determination and cash receipt systems.
* $5,600 to buy and install software to replace the financial accounting system.
The amounts also include money to pay relevant town employees for time spent on set-up and training.
Voters are also asked to consider giving municipal employees and selectmen a 3 percent pay increase and pay $2,000 to the treasurer for working 10 more hours on average per week than anticipated and doubling her pay from $6,967 last year to $13,934 this year.
Additional articles would allow the town to:
* Enter into an agreement in 2011-12 with the Oxford County Commissioners to provide fire protection for surrounding Andover Surplus areas.
* Authorize selectmen to donate the 1982 firetruck to Region 9’s School of Applied Technology for its new fire training curriculum.
* Sell the 37-acre Grimaldi Field property on Route 120. This is a citizen request.
* Make a statement that Andover does not support commercial wind farms in the western mountains region near Andover.
Town meeting will be held at 9 a.m. in the Town Hall.
Municipal elections will be held in the same place from 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22. Running unopposed for another three-year term each are Selectmen Chairman Susan Merrow and SAD 44 Director Timothy Akers.
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