Proposed $277,000 increase for local roads part of $4.85M 2017 budget

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — On Saturday, April 30 residents will gather in the gymnasium at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building at 9 a.m. to vote on an 11-article warrant at the annual town meeting. Items approved on April 30 will then go to the referendum ballot set for Tuesday, June 14.

Observer photos/Stuart Hedstrom

WORST CONDITION — Spring Street, above, and Harvey Street are two of the roads in Dover-Foxcroft in the worst condition as specified in a pavement management plan conducted by Gorrill Palmer of Gray. The firm’s study outlines a 10-year plan for treating about 14.5 miles of town roads over the next few years to prevent further decline, addressing other travelways identified as routine and starting work on roads designated under rehabilitate and reconstruct categories. In order to start the plan, a $400,000 (a $277,000 increase) local road improvement article will be on the town meeting warrant for April 23 along with a request to increase the LD1 property tax levy limit.

During a public hearing on March 30 at the town office, the bulk of the discussion centered on two articles pertaining to local roads. The first asks if state funds — an anticipated $90,000 — along with $310,000 raised and appropriated shall be used for local road improvements.

In order for this $400,000, a $277,000 increase from the current fiscal year, to be enacted, citizens will also have to approve the property tax levy limit increase of approximately $123,500 in the ensuing article. The tax levy limit of $2,536,850 for 2016-17 is established for Dover-Foxcroft by statute.

Town Manager Jack Clukey said a pavement management plan was carried out by Gorrill Palmer of Gray and presented to the selectmen earlier in the year. He said the plan was conducted for $11,000 with Gorrill Palmer having submitted the lowest bid.

“We are not professionals at doing this and we have known since 2010 the roads haven’t been getting any better,” Clukey said. He said the town solicited requests for proposals on road plans with six firms submitting bids.

“We just felt they were a company that really knew how to quantify this for us, to do the roads the most cost-effective (way),” the town manager said about Gorrill Palmer.

Marc Poulin of the budget advisory committee said, “The people of Dover-Foxcroft voted last year to have this assessment,” as part of the current year’s spending plan.

“That increase on the roads, going from $123,000 to $400,000, is .92 mils, just over nine-tenths of a mil,” Clukey said.

“The plan right now is centered around having a road that right now needs preventative maintenance not fall into the reconstruction category,” he said. He said 14.5 miles of travelways have been identified that can be taken care of to avoid falling into the category, “That’s really our main focus at this point.”

Chris Maas of the budget advisory committee said road costs are only going to increase, with the $400,000 likely to double in the next decade compared to the costs being about $100,000 10 years before.

Selectperson Jane Conroy asked if Gorrill Palmer officials would be at the April 23 town meeting, and her question was answered in the affirmative. “The key word that stood out to me was that they were looking at the preventative,” she said.

Select Chair Elwood Edgerly said a sum of $400,000 was chosen because the figure could help the town stay ahead of road work.

“Certainly we could do more with more but we want to do the critical work at the least amount of cost,” Clukey said. He said the pavement management plan includes information on lesser funding options.

Should the town road budget stay at around $100,000 annually for five years then over 3.5 miles of road will drop into the reconstruct category and over 15 miles will drop into the more expensive treatment categories. The plan states the town will save $1,570,000 over 10 years to start the plan at the present time, $157,000 less annually over the ensuing decade.

“The $400,000 gets us through the preventative treatments the next three years to avoid those roads from falling into a worse category,” Clukey said, with a bond or other funding source needed to adequately address travelways designated in the rehabilitate and reconstruct categories. “It’s the best use of this amount of money to get further miles from falling into the more expensive category.”

A 10-year plan calls for the 14.5 miles of preventative roads to be focused on in the first few years to prevent further decline. The plan also has routine roads being addressed and work on the rehabilitate and reconstruct categories beginning toward the middle and end of the timeframe.

The total proposed municipal budget is $4,585,075, just over $346,000 more or 8.17 percent, than for the current fiscal year. The spending plan includes a little more than $1.9 million in non-tax revenues — 0.81 percent less than in 2015-16 — for a net amount of $2,660,365 to be raised through property taxes.The difference in the amount to be raised is $361,954 more than in 2016.