WELD — Margot Joly and Selectman Thomas Skolfield are running for a three-year term on the Board of Selectman.
The election will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 7, in the Community Room at the Town Office.
Joly, 55, an attorney and owner of a Wilton law firm, believes the biggest issue facing the town is Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed budget.
Specifically, she cited his proposals to eliminate the 43-year-old municipal revenue-sharing program, to eliminate the homestead property tax exemption for homeowners under the age of 65 and to eliminate the property tax exemption for certain nonprofit organizations. All of these will have an impact on the services Weld provides and the property taxes, she said.
Skolfield, 66, Maine House District 112 representative, said it is important to remember that several of the town’s residents are retired and have limited incomes. Their homes, in many cases, are their biggest investment.
“We need to work on keeping folks in their homes by making it affordable for them to remain in them,” he said. “The town has infrastructural needs that require attention. Some of these needs have not been adequately addressed in the past,” Skolfield said. “We need to be proactive in addressing these needs, but at a pace that keeps our taxes manageable.”
If elected, Joly said, “I would work with the Maine Municipal Association and other officials of towns comparatively similar to Weld to impress upon the Legislature the actual and real impact of (the governor’s) proposals to Weld citizens and residents.”
Skolfield said he has worked to identify and prioritize many of the town’s needs in his first term as selectman and, if re-elected, he will continue to work toward developing strategies for dealing with those issues.
He will also continue work with Franklin County towns to identify methods that will benefit Weld and save valuable resources.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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