PHILLIPS — Selectmen on Tuesday urged townspeople to attend the district budget hearing Thursday night at Mt. Abram High School.
They agreed that the current SAD 58 budget could have an impact on the town’s taxes, despite their efforts to cut spending.
“Our tax rate has gone down for the past three years, from 18.5 (mills) down to 16.2,” Selectman Ray Gaudette said.
One mill represents $1 per $1,000 of property valuation. At 16.2 mills, Phillips property owners are paying $16.20 per $1,000 of valuation.
A property valued at $100,000 is assessed $220 less than under the $18.50 tax rate.
Town Manager Elaine Hubbard suggested taxpayers do not realize how large a percentage of their taxes support the school district.
“I like to invite anybody who would like to come to the school budget meeting,” Selectman Andy Phillips said. “We need all the help we can get.”
Last year, Phillips said, several amendments were made to the school budget he thought would pass, but because not enough voters attended the annual hearing, those attempts to cut the budget failed.
The town also faces unknown costs because of revenue cuts at the state level.
“While we’re cutting in our town budget, they’re adding to their budget,” Selectman Lincoln Haines said.
The district has had a difficult budget preparation process because of the same lack of finality at the state level. The town’s share changed dramatically, from the initial budget draft to the proposal voters will review Thursday night.
“Initially, the town of Phillips’ increase was going to be $210,000, and now it’s down to $96,000,” Gaudette said. “We think it can be chopped even further.”
SAD 58 is one of the largest employers in northern Franklin County, and that’s part of the problem, according to one resident.
“The trouble is you’ve got all the teachers and all their relatives, and you put the two together, and you can’t defeat them,” Charles Wilbur said.
In other business Tuesday night, it was reported that two selectmen accompanied the Land Use Planning Commission on its visit to Mark Beauregard’s proposed gravel pit in Madrid Township. The commission will meet again in July to determine whether Beauregard should receive a permit to begin gravel extraction.
Although selectmen have no control over the township’s section of Reeds Mill Road, they have received significant public input from residents who protest the expected additional traffic and accompanying road damage when loaded dump trucks drive across the town’s section of that road.
Safety, maintenance and water pollution in Toothaker Pond are concerns, Gaudette said.
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