FARMINGTON — Selectmen on Tuesday signed the warrant for a special town meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Community Center.
Voters will consider spending up to $120,000 from the unassigned fund balance to purchase 20 air packs for the Fire Rescue Department. The department’s packs are 16 years old and do not meet national fire protection standards, and the bottles are unusable because of their age.
The department has tried multiple times to secure funding from the Department of Homeland Security to replace them, according to Town Manager Richard Davis.
Future funding is not likely, he said.
Residents will also consider appropriating $7,890 from the unassigned fund balance to cover expenses for the Front Street drainage project completed in 2016.
The project was overbudget by $7,890, Davis said.
The town’s unassigned fund had a balance of $1.81 million at the end of 2016. These expenditures would leave the fund about $56,000 over $1.75 million, an amount recommended by town auditors that could cover two months of expenses, Davis said.
Voters will also be asked to authorize selectmen to sell a parcel of land on the north end of the town’s Church Street parking lot to Pamela and David Poisson for $637.50.
The Poissons, who live on Cony Street, are abutters to the parking lot. They want to buy about 828 square feet to expand their lot.
The town purchased the property in 2015 for the parking lot and will retain a perpetual easement over the section for future maintenance on a banking and fence next to the parking lot.
The price was negotiated between the Poissons and selectmen following a professional appraisal, according to the warrant.
In other business, selectmen unanimously agreed to a 2 percent salary increase for town employees in the 2018 budget.
Based on an average of the Consumer Price Index over the past 12 months, Davis recommended the average, 1.975 percent, be increased to 2 percent.
Last year, employees received a 0.6 percent increase and did not receive a raise the year before.
abryant@sunmediagroup.net
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