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Newport to Choose Selectmen, Hold Annual Town Meeting

Posted on: Friday, 3 March 2006, 09:01 CST

By Sharon Kiley Mack, Bangor Daily News, Maine

Mar. 3--NEWPORT -- Newport voters head to the polls today, choosing two selectmen from a field of three candidates.

Residents will gather again at 10 a.m. Saturday for their annual town meeting. Both events will be held at the Sebasticook Valley Community Center on North Street.

Veteran Selectman Al Worden is running for re-election for a three-year term. Also running are Allen Graves Jr., and Christopher Dow.

No one is listed on the ballot for an open SAD 48 board of directors seat.

The polls close at 8 p.m.

Town Manager James Ricker said the proposed budget for town meeting is $2.1 million, up just $109,564 over last year's budget.

Ricker said it is too early to tell what this year's mill rate will be, but it appears that the school budget may have a slight decrease, thereby helping the bottom line. "The mill rate may actually remain stable," he said.

A detailed look this year at local property valuations may also help capture new revenue.

"Properties assessed at $80,000 or $90,000 here are selling for three times that amount," Ricker said, a fact not going unnoticed by state officials.

Although the town will not be undergoing a revaluation, Ricker said incremental increases may be experienced.

"It will be gradual process," he said. "Our desire is to keep things constant but up with the times."

This year's town meeting warrant includes a $68,000 bond request to finance new playground equipment, which was approved unanimously by both the selectmen and the Budget Committee.

Another article would allow

the selectmen to sell a lot in the town's industrial park and use $20,000 of the proceeds to finance a revamp of the town's 1995 comprehensive plan.

"This is quite an important document considering all the growth Newport has experienced in the last decade," Ricker said.

Local funds would be combined with anticipated funds from the Maine State Planning Office.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Bangor Daily News, Maine

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)

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