ANDOVER — Selectmen and the Budget Committee have proposed a $615,187 municipal budget for residents to consider at the town meeting Saturday.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the Town Hall.
The proposed budget is $62,577 more than the current budget of $552,610. The increase is driven by an attempt to negotiate an agreement with SAD 44 by paying the district up to $68,000 to continue operation of Andover Elementary School for the 2012-13 school year.
That is in Article 3 for discussion. However, voting on the referendum question itself will be held along with municipal election balloting from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Town Hall.
The proposed budget doesn’t include school and county assessments which are done later in the year.
The increase doesn’t necessarily mean taxes will rise, because there is more money in surplus than last year, Selectman Trudy Akers said Thursday evening.
Should there be a higher appropriation, it could be offset, she said.
Among the 55 warrant articles is a proposal for a 1-mile rebuild of Farmer’s Hill Road. Article 29 asks voters to decide an amount to raise and appropriate for the project.
Article 30 asks voters to authorize the treasurer and selectmen to borrow $300,000 for the project, but mistakenly refers to Article 28 instead of Article 29, Akers said.
Article 28 pertains to something else. It asks voters to raise and/or appropriate money to make the Road Improvement Bond payment. Selectmen recommend taking $40,000 from the Urban Rural Initiative Program from the state and $21,000 through taxation to make the estimated $60,729 payment.
Among other articles is one that seeks to create a new ordinance to ban the sale and use of fireworks. Two articles will determine whether the town raises and appropriates $11,000 to repair the fire department ladder truck or explore a shared-use agreement on a regional ladder truck.
Akers said concerns about fireworks causing fires in and around town in the past prompted selectmen to draft an ordinance to ban fireworks after the Legislature legalized the sale and use of consumer fireworks last summer.
For municipal elections, Kimberly Peare-Gautreau and Judith Tabb are seeking Akers’ seat on the Board of Selectmen. She opted not to seek re-election.
Mark Shraiberg and Walter Smith are vying for one SAD 44 director’s seat.
In other municipal elections, Robert Dixon and Sylvanus “Butch” Glover are vying for fire chief, currently held by Dixon; Marshall Meisner is seeking re-election as road commissioner, as is Melinda Averill for town clerk and tax collector.
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