PALMYRA — Residents at the annual Town Meeting on Saturday will be asked if they want to discontinue all funding for the Palmyra Community Center and to authorize selectmen to close and sell the former school.

If the proposal prevails, the center’s current tenants will have 90 days to vacate the premises.

If the proposal fails on Saturday and voters agree to keep the former Palmyra Consolidated School open as a community center, residents will then be asked if they want to move the Town Office from its current location and to appropriate $45,000 to pay moving costs and expenses to operate the community center.

The move would have to be completed by Sept. 30. The cost would be shared with $25,000 coming from surplus and $20,000 coming from taxation.

Palmyra residents then will be asked to also raise $20,000 and take $20,000 from surplus to support the community center for the coming year, according to the warrant document. Revenue also would be generated from rentals, donations and fees for dances, parties and private affairs.

The town Budget Committee is not making a recommendation on the proposals.

Palmyra Administrative Assistant Diane Abbott Cookson said the town paid about $58,000 in 2011 to run the community center and took in about $30,000 in revenues from tenants and renters.

“It’s used quite frequently,” Cookson said. “There usually is something up there every weekend.”

The town became owner of the building after Regional School Unit 19 closed the Palmyra school in 2010 as a means to cut district spending.

In a letter published in the town’s annual report, Donald Hill, chairman of the Palmyra Community Center Boosters, said there were more than 260 events at the center last year, including weddings, anniversary parties, shows, meetings and receptions. The center also has a permanent tenant in the Weeville Daycare and Preschool. There also are five classrooms, a kitchen, a stage, a book lending room and a gymnasium at the former school.

“The town of Palmyra has been given a valuable gift,” Hill said.

In money matters for Saturday’s annual business meeting, Cookson said the budget, if all articles are approved as written, will come in at $718,201, up from last year’s figure of $707,195.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com