ROXBURY — The annual town meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, March 3, in the Town Hall.
Voters are being asked to approve a municipal budget of more than $700,000 to be raised through taxation, which is up $21,507 from last year’s budget. The budget doesn’t include county and school assessments.
Planned road work is mostly driving the increase, said Renee Hodsdon, deputy town clerk, tax collector and treasurer.
In 2012, residents approved starting a multiyear construction project to upgrade town roads.
One big item is Article 14, which asks voters to authorize selectmen to take out a seven-year loan of not more than $800,000 plus interest to complete Roxbury’s Road Improvement Project.
Article 15 seeks to raise and/or appropriate $359,542 and to transfer $15,458 from the Future Road Projects account to repay the current bond (principal and interest) used for Roxbury’s capital road improvement project.
Article 16 seeks to raise and/or appropriate $72,500 for Roxbury road improvement projects.
The winter roads maintenance budget increased from $90,000 last year to $120,000 this year, while the summer roads budget jumped from $5,000 to $20,000.
Article 12 seeks to transfer $10,000 from excise tax into the winter roads budget, along with a $14,993 carry-forward balance from last year, creating a total appropriation of $144,993. Last year’s total appropriation was $120,484.
Article 13 seeks to transfer $6,936 from the Maine Department of Transportation fund into the summer roads budget.
New this year:
* $3,000 sought for a watershed management survey of Roxbury Pond.
* $1,431 requested by Black Mountain Ski Resort.
* $275 requested by the American Legion.
Hodsdon said that historically, neither the legion nor Black Mountain has asked Roxbury for donations.
In Article 44, selectmen ask voters to appropriate no more than $5,000 from the General Fund account to remove a building deemed dangerous on Lot 81 of Map 10. The money is to be billed to the property owner and a lien placed on the property to ensure repayment of funds.
In municipal elections, which are done from the floor, Selectman John Sutton and RSU 10 school board Director Denise Cross are running unopposed for three-year terms.
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