NEWRY — The Board of Selectmen unanimously agreed Monday evening to wait until their annual town meeting in March to approve several budget overages from the last few months.
Town Administrator Loretta Powers said that several of the town’s departments had overages in certain categories, including the Fire Department, which overdrew its equipment account.
“I spoke with our auditor for some suggestions, and she said that normally, we would withdraw money from our contingency fund to cover it,” Powers said. “However, it turns out that we don’t have enough in that fund this year.”
Powers said that the board could vote to schedule a special town meeting, or decide to have residents vote to approve the overages at their annual town meeting in March.
“Our auditor also suggested that we increase the amount of money that we approve for our contingency fund so we don’t run into this problem in the future,” Powers added.
Selectman Jim Largess pointed out that there are “only two more months left in this budget cycle,” and that it “wouldn’t hurt to wait until the annual town meeting to make the decision.”
“Plus, you get more people at the annual town meeting than you would get at a special town meeting,” Largess added.
Selectwoman Wendy Hanscom agreed, adding that the issue seemed “pretty straightforward” and could be “easily rectified at the town meeting.”
In other business, the selectmen voted 3-0 to approve a liquor license for Richard McLaughlin, who operates the Barking Dawg Market on 119 Skiway Road.
McLaughlin told selectmen he wanted the liquor license so he could serve beer and wine in the cafe located within his store.
“The previous liquor license approved the store for beer, wine and liquor, but I’m just looking to be able to serve beer and wine in the cafe,” he said.
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