Good afternoon Sangerville,
Last night we had a special town meeting to see if the town would authorize the select board and specifically me as their agent, to apply for private, state and federal grants that may require matching funds. The article passed unanimously, which opens us to possibly receive a significant amount of funding to help in multiple areas of the town but specifically renovating the town hall. With that authorization, this morning I completed and submitted a historic preservation grant application to assist us with the roof repairs on the town hall. The application was for $30,000.00 with a $10,000.00 match if we are successful with the grant.
I am sure I am not alone in my happiness seeing a sunny day today.
We were concerned that this week’s weather would create some significant storm damage to trees and roads in our town. We were fortunate that we only had some very minor damage, a couple trees down and two small washouts on the Knowlton’s Mills Rd and the Gray Hill Rd which were being repaired yesterday.
With Christmas rapidly approaching there is a lot going on locally this weekend. The recovery center is having a fundraising auction, similar to a festival of trees at their facility on the Douty Hill Rd., (the old catholic church). The Sangerville Fire Department will be doing a holiday party for local kids tomorrow from 1:00 PM until 4:00 PM at the fire station. I heard a rumor that Santa will be there around 1:30. If you should feel like venturing to Dover-Foxcroft this weekend, Mosaic masonic lodge will be holding a festival of trees at the Piscataquis fairgrounds.
In my continuing discussion of how we determine property taxes and fund town government I will discuss the next piece of the puzzle. We already discussed that the evaluation of your property multiplied by the mil rate creates your property tax bill but how do we set the mil rate. There are three components to the decision of what the mil rate is for the year. Number one is the school budget. The largest single portion of taxes collected by the municipalities in our area goes to fund local schools. As town government we have no voice in how our school budget is determined and passed. You as individual citizens do have a right, and I encourage you to exercise it, in deciding how that money is spent. You elect representatives to the school board who act on your behalf the same as select people do with town business and County Commissioners do with county business. Know your school board members and do not hesitate to contact them with questions or concerns. Also, as with the town government all school board meetings and school budget meetings are public. The SAD 4 website has information on school board meetings. If you are concerned about how your taxes are spent, I would encourage you to learn how the school board is spending your tax dollars. County government operates similarly. We have three county commissioners that meet regularly and also have budget hearings. All those meetings are public and information about them can be found on the Piscataquis County commissioners’ website. On my next post, I will discuss how we determine our local budget from property taxes.
Have a great weekend.
Brian
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