BYRON — Residents voted to transfer $1,000 from the General Assistance account to the Byron Emergency Residential Assistance Fund during Monday’s annual town meeting.
The fund was set up by selectmen in 2013, Selectman Anne Simmons-Edmunds said, “to set some money aside for someone who needed a little extra oil or something like that. We thought that this way, we could set up something that would allow us to go to Hometown Energy, order 100 gallons and say, ‘Deliver it to this person.'”
Resident Patrick Knapp-Veilleux said he thought the fund was a “really good idea.”
“I think that with an emergency fund, the townspeople will be able to help take care of each other,” Knapp-Veilleux said. “The town will be helping itself.”
According to a chart provided at the meeting, there is $1,764 in the General Assistance account.
Simmons-Edmunds said she would check with Maine Municipal Association before the funds are transferred to be sure it’s legal.
Residents also voted to give a 10 percent discount on property taxes paid by Sept. 15, and charge 7 percent interest on taxes paid after Nov. 1.
Simmons-Edmunds said selectmen are requesting $40,000 for tax discounts.
Last year they asked for $35,000.
“When we had our audit done last year, we were told that we weren’t allotting enough money for the scenario in which every resident would pay their taxes before September,” she said. “That’s where the $5,000 increase is coming from.”
At the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year, there was $2,130 left in the tax discount account.
Residents voted to put aside $4,000 for snow removal, plowing and salt and sand.
“We depleted a lot of our stock this year,” Simmons-Edmunds said. “I think a lot of towns in Maine did. We’re requesting more this year in case we have another bad winter.”
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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