Guilford proposed budget up 2.3 percent

TIF expiration could add funds
to capital budget
and lower taxes

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    GUILFORD — This year’s Guilford annual town meeting isn’t expected to generate much controversy or discussion as all elective offices are uncontested and the gross budget is up by just 2.3 percent.
    One notable article on the 22-article warrant will ask voters to raise and appropriate $70,000 for a dedicated capital investment plan.

    However, the funds will come from new tax revenue, thanks to the expiration of a 20-year tax increment financing (TIF) plan that began when True Textiles opened its Saulter facility on the Dover-Foxcroft Road.
    Town Manager Tom Goulette said that the TIF agreement required the town to turn back 100 percent of the tax revenue generated by the new plant to True Textiles. “Originally, it was about $300,000 a year,” Goulette said. “But because of equipment depreciation, we estimate that it will be around $129,000 this year. So we’re proposing to put $70,000 into a reserve fund and use the other $59,000 to help keep the mil rate down.”
    Goulette said that while adequate funds are always appropriated for the fire department and police protection, there isn’t a dedicated fund to replace public works equipment. “We contract our plowing out, but we’re still responsible for sanding and other stuff,” he said. “By setting up this account, we’re looking toward the future.”
    The overall budget is $2.55 million, up from $2.49 million last year. On the municipal side of the ledger, appropriation requests are down by 1 percent. However, county taxes rose by 5.2 percent and Goulette estimates that the town’s share of the School Administrative District 5 budget will be up by 5.4 percent “based on past history.”
    Major expenditures this year include $319,750 for administration; $518,148 for public safety; $529,181 for public works; $76,301 for the Guilford Memorial Library.
    Guilford’s current mil rate is $14.65 per $1,100 valuation, but Goulette said it’s going to be hard to predict whether it will change very much until the new tax bills come out this year. “We just underwent a revaluation, so there will be some changes,” he told the Observer. Historically, Guilford’s valuation was split evenly between residential and commercial, Goulette explained. “After the 2007 valuation, it went 60-40 percent on the industrial side,” he said.
    On the election front, incumbent Selectmen Peter Martell and Michael Dexter are both seeking another three-year term, as are Charles Martell for a seat on the Guilford-Sangerville Sanitary District Board of Directors, and Jennifer Draper and Charlene McMullen on the SAD 4 Board of Directors.
    Michelle Dyer-Fagan, Sheila Thompson and Mary McReavy are running for reelection on the Guilford Memorial Library Board of Trustees, but an additional position needs to be filled.
    Incumbent Planning Board members Matt Holland and Richard Panciera are running again and Paul Stearns, who was just elected to the Maine House last fall, will seek another term on the Planning Board of Appeals.
    Guilford Economic Development Board incumbents Daniel Hutchins and Carrie Fellows also plan to seek another term.
    The annual town meeting gets under way at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 16 at the Piscataquis Community Elementary School gym.