NEW GLOUCESTER – Selectmen on Monday grappled with equipment and vehicle replacement purchases in beginning 2018-19 fiscal year budget talks.
Selectmen used detailed documents from each department with information about purchasing equipment over a period of years, and include funding reserve accounts to help pay for purchases.
Requests from Fire Chief James Ladewig’s department include replacing a utility vehicle for $36,000 and $200,000 in reserve funds for spending on future fire and rescue equipment.
The board deferred for one year a request to replace Squad I, which is 15 years old.
Requests made by Public Works Director Ted Shane were whittled down to the replacement of a dump/plow truck that’s been in service since 2004. The board agreed to postpone the replacement for a one-ton dump truck and a loader backhoe.
A new reserve account for four years at $50,000 annually will include safety measures to relocate the town’s recycling center at the Transfer Station, which was recommended in a study of the facility on Bald Hill Road.
The requests will be forwarded to the town’s Capital Improvement Planning Committee, which will rank the requests in priority for selectmen to consider in budget planning. The committee is advisory to selectmen and has no authority.
The board’s next meeting is set for Dec. 11.
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