PHILLIPS — Selectmen agreed Tuesday night to keep the town’s 2014-15 tax rate at $20.80 per $1,000 of valuation.
Selectmen said the town’s operating costs were cut at the June town meeting, allowing them the option of keeping the same tax rate.
“We cut the budget (to) $100,000 less than last year, so we can keep the rate the same,” board Chairman Lincoln Haines said.
Also Tuesday, the board reviewed the status of the taxpayers’ vote to transfer ownership of the Agricultural Building to the town historical society.
“All the paperwork went to our attorney,” Town Manager Elaine Hubbard said. “The historical society has to reinstate its corporate status with the State of Maine.”
Nonprofits must be registered with the state, whether or not they pay taxes, and the society’s active status has lapsed, Hubbard said. Until the group renews its filing status, the town legally cannot transfer the title to the Agricultural Building.
Public Works Director Ward Bredeau updated selectmen on road construction work. The culvert replacement at Bragg Corner is moving forward, he said. He hopes to receive a state permit to install a single concrete box-style culvert.
He said at a recent meeting that the delay in the design of the culvert was due to disagreements among state and federal officials.
“They want Warm Brook to be a natural-bottom stream, and the arched culvert would establish that goal,” Bredeau said.
Hubbard and Bredeau have spent much of the summer in conversations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Final approval will be given by the Army Corps of Engineers before Bredeau can order materials and hire contractors. All of the outside organizations have a goal of restoring the spawning habitat for native fish species, so the project has been tightly monitored.
“They want streams to go back to their natural width,” Bredeau said.
An alternative to the arched culvert would have been two box culverts, but that option was not acceptable to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, he said.
In other news, Hubbard reported she contacted the town’s local phone and Internet service provider, TDS, about the possibility of expanding high-speed access to businesses and residences beyond the company’s local facilities. The Verizon connection through the Strong cellphone tower is more expensive, according to resident Ken Ziglar, but the wireless connection is strong and dependable.
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