LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen agreed Tuesday to close the Town Office on Tuesday, Jan. 14, for a fourth vote on the town’s administration budget.
Town office staff along with other community members will oversee the polls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
After voters rejected a proposed $197,861 administration budget twice at the polls and once at an open town meeting in June, July and November, selectmen reduced the lien account by $2,500. The most recent vote on the proposal in November failed by a vote of 260-258.
The proposed administration budget that will go to voters is now $195,361. It is $30,195 more than last year’s budget due to the treasurer/town clerk position being moved to the administration budget from the elected officials budget.
Residents voted June 14, 2011, to change the method of electing the treasurer/town clerk position to one that would be hired and appointed.
The overall $2.25 million town budget for 2013-14 is nearly $50,000 less than the previous years.
Town Manager Kristal Flagg said if the administration budget is not approved, there will not be enough money to run the town. It will be short by about $30,000, she said.
In other business Tuesday, Flagg updated selectmen on the preliminary estimate of about $22,000 to deal with the December ice storm. That amount has been submitted to the Androscoggin Unified Emergency Management Agency.
The county’s cost threshold of $371,572 to trigger a Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster declaration was surpassed by $55,666 with three towns not reporting as of Dec. 27, according to information Livermore Administrative Assistant Kurt Schaub received last month.
The towns could be reimbursed for the expense of the ice storm if a disaster is declared.
In other business, selectmen acting in their capacity as trustees of the Sewer Department/Wastewater Treatment Plant, voted to increase the hourly wages of two employees by $1.03. After review, it was determined the increase should be $1.04 an hour.
Both Willard Parker and Warren Smith have obtained increased sewer treatment licenses to get the raise outlined in the contract, Flagg said.
Flagg also said after the meeting that Erick Leiter of Jay has been hired as the Public Works Department mechanic.
Parker was the mechanic before transferring to the Sewer Department, Wastewater Treatment plant.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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