$5M-plus 2019 budget approved at D-F town meeting; Articles now go to June 12 referendum

DOVER-FOXCROFT — All seven items passed as written during the 2018 annual town meeting on the morning of April 28 in the gymnasium at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building. The articles making up the 2018-19 municipal budget will now go to a referendum vote on Tuesday, June 12.

The articles make up a proposed 2018-19 municipal budget totaling $5,019,355, a $55,465 decrease (1.09 percent) from the current fiscal year.

The $5 million-plus would be offset by a little less than $2,192,000 in revenues, down $180,755 (7.62 percent) from the figure for 2017-18. The result would be a net amount of $2,827,650 to be raised through property taxes, an increase of $125,290 or 4.64 percent.

The 2018-19 spending plan approved at the annual town meeting translate to a projected .4 mill rate increase for a proposed mill rate of $21.30 per every $1,000 in assessed property.

One item OKed on Saturday morning asked if $310,000 would be raised and appropriated for town roads, to go along with an anticipated $90,000 from the state for a total of $400,000 to be used in 2018 as part of a 10-year paving management plan.

“We’re in the process of putting together this year’s road plan” Town Manager Jack Clukey said. When asked he said high priority roads for 2018 and/or 2019 include Pleasant Street, Dwelley Avenue, a section of the Bear Hill Road “and some streets that are less trafficked but are in need.”

“We have an assessment from a few years ago and we have been prioritizing from this assessment,” Select Vice Chair Cindy Freeman Cyr said.

“This year we will still have a June ballot,” Clukey said shortly before the town meeting adjourned. “This June vote will be a validation vote for this budget that we just adopted,” he said.

The June 12 referendum will include a question on the RSU 68 school budget, which will also go to voters in the fellow district towns of Charleston, Monson and Sebec.

Dover-Foxcroft residents will vote on a pair of positions, for terms of three years apiece, for both the select board and the RSU 68 school board. In addition the referendum has a vote on a three-year position on the HAD 4 board of directors and a one-year term on the Thompson Free Library Executive Committee.