MOSCOW — Voters at the Town Meeting on Monday night voted not to take $12,000 from surplus for community Christmas lighting, opting instead to do something less formal to celebrate the season.
“They decided it was too costly and too complicated,” First Selectman Donald Beane said Tuesday.
So rather than take the anticipated $156,948 from surplus this year, Moscow residents will take $144,948 instead.
Last year, residents voted to take $115,344 from surplus.
Beane said the proposed municipal budget of $315,788 for the coming fiscal year was raised by $500 to $316,288 to allow for an increase in the pay for school board directors by $5 per meeting.
The town’s four school board members now will be paid $15 by the town for every meeting attended. The money will match the $15 paid to each director by the school district, bringing the total pay to $30 per meeting.
Beane said the municipal budget is not expected to affect the current property tax rate of $17.50 for every $1,000 of assessed value, but it is too early to know what will happen with the school budget, the county tax and state revenue sharing.
Moscow voters appropriated $330,946 at last year’s annual Town Meeting.
Top spending articles on Monday’s business warrant included raising $30,000 for the maintenance of town roads and bridges, $81,000 for snow removal and sanding and $47,805 for the transfer station account. Voters also agreed to raise $44,000 to pay all town officials and $41,088 for Moscow’s contribution to the Ambulance Service. The town raised $52,282 for the Ambulance Service last year.
Residents also voted to take $20,640 from block grant funding and $43,000 from surplus to resurface part of Stream Road.
In municipal voting earlier in the day Monday, veteran school board director Pauline LaGasse defeated challenger Gary McLaughlin for a three-year term. The vote was 56-25.
Beane, who has been on the Board of Selectmen since 1979, was re-elected for a three-year term, unopposed on the ballot.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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