Good morning Sangerville,

We had our last regular select board meeting of 2024 Wednesday evening. The most significant item of discussion was on our budget, which fits with my ongoing information to you folks about how we collect and spend your tax dollars. When taxes and other revenues from the state are collected, we spend that money within our budget as directed by the taxpayers at the annual town meeting. One of the big challenges to this process, believe it or not is the calendar. Our fiscal year is the same as the calendar year. Our town meeting is in the spring, and we do not begin collecting taxes until July. You, the citizens of Sangerville authorize us to spend your tax dollars, and how to spend them at the annual town meeting. Traditionally, town meeting in Sangerville is the last Saturday in March, although it was in May this year. The selectmen and I have heard significant feedback from you, the citizens that town meeting should be held the last Saturday in March as it has been for many years. We are planning to return to tradition and have town meeting the last Saturday in March this year. When you authorize us to spend the budget at town meeting, that is for the remainder of the fiscal year. In other words, we can spend from the line items of the budget, on their respective expenses until December 31st. Included in each town meeting warrant is always an article that allows us to pay our bills during the new fiscal year, until the next annual town meeting. After town meeting, we begin spending the budget for the current fiscal year, however, we have not set a mil rate or begun collecting taxes yet. What that means is we are spending money that is already in our checking and savings account until the end of July. When August rolls around we finally start using money collected from taxes on the respective year to pay our bills. So, when I reported to the select board for the last regular meeting of this fiscal year, I felt it necessary to report that we do have enough money in our checking and savings account to run the town through July 31st, with a three-month reserve, as recommended by our auditors to cover any unforeseen or emergency expenses. I am happy to report that when all our expenses were figured, we are in good shape and there is some money beyond what we need to run the town until August.

To make a long story just a little bit longer that brings us to the main discussion Wednesday evening. At the 2024 annual town meeting two articles were passed that our tax revenues did not allow us to fully fund. Article 26 was to use up to $200,000 for road repairs, beyond regular maintenance. Article 35 was to raise up to $440,000 to renovate the town hall. The select board voted to use the remaining money in our savings and checking account beyond what we need to run the town until August with the three-month reserve for emergencies, to place $250,000 into a reserve account for the town hall renovation and $30,000 into a reserve account for road work to begin in the spring. In addition to the money, we set aside to continue road improvements as soon as possible in the spring is the approximately $39,000 in local road assistance money from the department of transportation to be spent on capital road improvements. This allows us to begin road work as soon as we can in the spring, and we have a long list of projects.

I expect my next post to be sometime after the holidays, where I will talk about the process of putting together the budget that you folks will vote on, at the annual town meeting in March and how we will determine the articles in the warrant. Happy holidays everyone.

The Town Office will be CLOSED

December 24^th will be a half day, closing at 3PM

December 25^th & 26^th for Christmas

December 31^st for year-end closing of books

January 1^st

 Have a wonderful Holiday!

Town of Sangerville, ME

Regular Select Board Meeting

Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 6:00 pm

1. Opening Meeting
   1. Roll Call
      • Selectpersons : Chair Jeff Peters, Josh Tracy, and Mike Gould
      • Employees : Brian Mullis, Michelle Nichols, Kelsey Shannon, Matt Blockler
      • Public :
   2. Pledge of Allegiance
2. Open Session: Limited to 2 Minutes-Extension per Chair
   1. Samuel EatonDiscussion on Plowing and Sanding
3. Sign the Minutes of Board MeetingAttachments:
   • December 4th Board Meeting Minutes
4. Review of the Treasurer’s Warrants:
   1. Payroll: #
   2. Accounts Payable: #
5. Old Business
   1. Town Tax Acquired Property- The Next StepA 2022 tax lien expired November 1. The property is located on Hunnewell Avenue.
6. New Business
   1. Corinna Abatements for 2022 and 2023
   2. December 30th Board MeetingWe end our year on December 31, the board needs to sign the warrant for the last bills of the year. Do we want to skip the January 8th meeting so the next board meeting would be January 15th?
   3. General Assistance Ordinance to be signed by the Board
   4. Harris Computer- Trio Upgrade
   5. Raymond Mountains Abatement application
   6. Angela Alfonso’s Abatement Application
   7. Old Municipal Building Reserve Account
7. Town Managers Report
8. Road Commissioners Report
9. Select Board Concerns
10. Executive Session Personnel Matters 1M.R.S.A sub 405 (6)(A)
11. Adjourn

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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TOWN WARRANT

FOR THE SPECIAL TOWN MEETING

TOWN OF SANGERVILLE

Piscataquis, SS                                                                                                          State of Maine

To: Richard Hall Jr. a resident of the Town of Sangerville, in said County of Piscataquis, State of Maine.

GREETINGS:

      In the name of the State of Maine, you are hereby required to notify and warn the             inhabitants of the Town of Sangerville, in the county of Piscataquis and the State of Maine, qualified to vote in Town affairs, to assemble at the Sangerville Fire Station  on _December 12th,  2024_ at _6:00 _O’Clock in the evening, then and there to act on the  following Articles, to wit:

ARTICLE 1:  To choose a Moderator to preside at said meeting.

Pledge of Allegiance

ARTICLE 2:  To adopt the Maine Moderator’s Manual published by the Maine Municipal  Association as the authority on the rules and procedures for conducting the     Annual Town Meeting.

ARTICLE 3: To ascertain if non-resident speakers are present and whether or not Inhabitants wish to call on them, to be heard.

ARTICLE 4: To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Select Board to apply for and accept grants from private, state and federal agencies, which might require matching funds from the town and enter into contractual obligations for these grants. 

Given under our hands this _5th_day of December, A.D. 2024

‘_______________________________________________________

Jeff Peters, Chair

‘_______________________________________________________

 Mike Gould

‘_______________________________________________________

 Josh Tracy

The Board of Selectmen

Pursuant to the within Warrant, I have notified and warned the Inhaitants of Sangerville qualified as therein expressed to be at the time, and place and for the purpose therein names, by posting this day an attested copy of the within Warrant at the following places:

            Sangerville Town Office

            The Sangerville Town Web site

            The R. & D Emporium

            The Sangerville Post office

            The Sangerville Facebook page

Attest, a true copy:

            ‘________________________________________

              Michelle Nichols, Town Clerk

Good morning Sangerville,

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Mother Nature has had our plow crews busy this last week as well as the fire department helping out with accidents and downed trees. I know Chris and Warren are working hard to get the roads in good shape, this morning they had a breakdown of one of their bigger trucks, so they were using a smaller truck to help get things opened up until they can get to the whole town with the larger truck. So, I will ask everyone to be patient, they are doing the best they can, and I am sure the roads will be in good shape shortly after the storm is done.
One of the challenges I have learned recently to doing maintenance on our dirt roads, especially the dead-end ones is that we have some really inadequate turn around spots for our snowplows. I will be putting that on the agenda for our road committee to discuss and we will add that to our project list for next summer. Again, I ask for patience with the roads. We still had work we wanted to accomplish this fall, but the weather has shut us down. We will develop a list of projects and their expected costs over the winter and with the blessing of the voters in March at the annual town meeting will be out working on those projects as soon as we can in the spring.
Our Select board meeting last night had a fairly light agenda because a lot of our time in between meetings was our Thanksgiving break. We were able to appoint four out of five positions for a board of appeals. We still have one opening for anyone interested. Recently, several residents have questioned why we are using Mid Maine Solid Waste Association in Corinna for solid waste disposal as opposed to Dover-Foxcroft. The concerns voiced to the select board and I have primarily been two issues. One is the distance, as I live in Dover-Foxcroft and Corinna is my hometown, I have a good understanding of the mileage and time differences between the two and it is significant. The other issue is that MMSWA has fees for the disposal of many items, specifically demolition material that Dover-Foxcroft does not. It has been conveyed to us that this is causing a hardship to certain residents who are doing their best to comply with our property maintenance ordinance. I will continue to research this topic and the select board may choose to put this before the people at our annual town meeting. We learned that Moosehead Cable will cease services to the Town of Sangerville residents in six months. They only have 64 current customers between Guilford and Sangerville and cannot afford to keep this operation. The office staff and I met with representatives from Androscoggin Savings Bank last week and feel that they can better serve the banking interests of the town than our current bank. We recommended to the select board and they approved a switch to Androscoggin Savings for our banking. This will have little to no impact on you the residents, other than we will be earning more interest on our sweep account, which is a form of municipal savings account, which is your tax dollars. Finally, from the select board meeting it has been decided to call a special town meeting for next Thursday, December 12th, at the Fire Station at 6:00 PM. The purpose of this is to vote on an article that would allow the select board to apply for and accept grants that may require matching funds. The article in the town meeting this past spring was written to exempt this type of grant from those which we may apply and accept. This limits us on our grant applications, particularly for the town hall renovation. Please try to come out next Thursday evening to discuss and vote on this article.
In my next installment of how we collect and utilize your tax dollars, I will discuss the other have of the equation that determines your tax bill. One half is mil rate, that I talked about last time. The other half is evaluation or assessment. When I became a selectman in Dover-Foxcroft almost twenty years ago, I did not realize the title of select person also included tax assessor and overseer of the poor. The tax assessor responsibility terrified me. Fortunately, almost all communities have recognized that tax assessing is a professional skill set all to itself. Larger towns have full-time assessor agents, towns like Sangerville, mostly contract with an assessing firm. We use Hamlin Associate out of Parkman. These professional assessing agents look at a variety of factors to determine the assessment of your property. The state of Maine has passed laws taking as much of the subjectivity out of the process as possible as well as requiring towns keep their assessments up to date, so everyone is being taxed fairly. I recently read the manual the state requires assessors to use, and it is very complex. To keep it brief, the assessment accounts for location, i.e. is it waterfront, on a paved road, etc., size of the lot, size and condition of any buildings on the lot, taking into account everything from paved driveways to number of bathrooms. They also use data collected from sale of similar properties in the area. The goal is to have the assessment as accurate as possible. This assessment multiplied by the mil rate determines your tax bill. On the next installment, I will start discussing how we collect and use your taxes. Have a great day and a great weekend everyone.

Good afternoon Sangerville,

It appears the ground is becoming a little white for the first time this year, but the national weather service is saying little to no accumulation is expected. Nevertheless, the weather over the next few days looks like it may be a little ugly at times and roads may become slippery in places for short periods of time. Please be careful driving and slow down appropriately. I have just been informed our crews are out sanding as I write this.
There is not a great deal to report from the town office today as it is Thanksgiving week. A reminder, we will be closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. If you are looking for a place to connect with your neighbors and share a Thanksgiving meal, the recovery center on the Douty Hill Rd. will be providing a free community Thanksgiving Dinner. The doors will be open for people to come by and socialize starting at 1:00 PM with dinner at 2:30 PM.
One of my primary responsibilities as town manager is to oversee our budget, or more specifically, see that your tax dollars are spent in a responsible manner according to what you the citizens decide at our annual town meeting. In addition to that responsibility, I help prepare a budget that is reviewed by our select board and budget advisory committee and presented to you, the townspeople at our annual town meeting for approval for the next year. That is why attending town meetings are so important. Every dollar we spend on everything from roads to the fire department to animal control and everything else is approved by you at town meeting.
To most of us that annual tax bill is a significant portion of our family income, I understand with prices of everything going up the way they have the last few years, that even a modest increase in taxes hits those struggling to make ends meet very hard. That is why the select board, budget advisory committee and I will be working very hard to produce a fiscally responsible budget while doing as much as we can to improve town services and infrastructure.
I don’t remember ever learning in school, even in college, how a town collected and spent taxes. Which to me is far more useful to know L’hopitals rule in calculus, but I digress. I thought you folks might consider it interesting, if over the next few posts, I talk about how your tax bill is created and then what happens to the money after you pay your taxes.
The first item to discuss is mil rate. I think we are all familiar with the term mil rate. Mil is short for millage which is derived from the Latin word millesimum which means one thousandth. An analogy is percent, one percent is 1/100th, 1 mil is 1/1000th. An example would be if you have a mil rate of 12, which is fairly close to our mil rate and a property value of 100,000 your annual tax bill would be $1,200. I will talk a little more about assessed property value on my next post.
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Brian

Good Friday afternoon Sangerville,

It appears we are going to receive some much-needed rain over the next 36 hours or so. The good news is that although it may mix with a little snow tomorrow night, little to no accumulation of snow is expected so we are not anticipating needing to put any sand or salt on the roads just yet.
I have been told there is a community Thanksgiving dinner at the masonic lodge in Guilford this Sunday afternoon, by donation, all are invited. It is being put on by our local DeMolay.
At our select board meeting this week we changed the town hall committee from an ad hoc committee to a standing committee with up to 25 members. At this time, they have twenty members and will be having their, organizational meeting to elect officers, develop a schedule, work plan, etc. soon. If you are interested in this committee, please see us in the town office.
We are desperate for a few people on the board of appeals. We also need a couple people on the road committee. If you are willing to serve on any of these or other committees, I would like to talk with you. Either drop by the office or email me at: tmsangerville@sangervilleme.com.
Specific expertise is not required for any committee roles. You simply need to be a resident of Sangerville interested in helping your community. As with everything in government, multiple different perspectives are a strength not a weakness.
The selectmen and I discussed the need to take on the arduous task of reviewing all town ordinances and policies. We are planning to look at the ordinances before the end of February as any changes to ordinances must be done at a town meeting by the voters. Currently there is no required review process, but we are considering adopting a practice of reviewing all ordinances every ten years and all policies every three years.
On a brighter and more interesting topic, the holiday season is upon us. Michelle and Kelsey have put the Christmas Tree up in the office this week and we are beginning to look festive. I noticed when traveling around to check roads earlier this week that our local Christmas Tree Farms are starting to harvest trees. The town office will only be open Monday and Tuesday, regular hours next week. We are closed regularly on Wednesdays and will be closed for Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday. I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Brian

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 Good afternoon Sangerville,

In the process of talking with residents and reviewing policies and old records, I have learned that Sangerville has a rich history of residents participating in town committees to help govern the town. With the exception of the planning board, budget committee and ad hoc town hall committee, it seems the rest of our committees have become somewhat dormant. My philosophy of municipal leadership, at least in part, is to listen to as many citizens as possible and encourage community involvement. I think I can safely say that position is supported by our select board. At our select board meeting tomorrow evening and I am sure the regular meetings in December, we will be discussing these committees. Tomorrow evening the budget committee will be appointed. The members of that committee appointed are from a sign-up sheet from town meeting last spring. Last Wednesday evening we had an informal meeting/work session with the members of the ad hoc, town hall committee. Tomorrow evening, we will be discussing, formally, some ideas that came out of that session, primarily a policy change to make that group a standing committee and making appointments to that committee, which I believe will still have some openings if everything discussed is enacted tomorrow evening. In addition to these, we have a need to appoint members to a board of appeals, and a road committee. These are both very important. We are required to have a board of appeals by state law and our own ordinance. The board of appeals primarily reviews planning board decisions that are appealed by the applicant. The road committee assists us in all aspects of planning and budgeting road projects.We also in upcoming meetings will be discussing the forestry committee, economic development committee, cemetery committee and recreation committee.I encourage everyone to attend select board meetings whenever they can. They are the first and third Wednesdays of every month at the fire station at 6:00 PM. This is the best way to know what is going on in your town and to get a chance to discuss anything with your select board. This is where all board appointments and policies are decided. If you are interested in a committee but are too busy to regularly attend, select board meetings you can drop by the office when we are open. I will be happy to chat with you about committees or any other town business. I can also be contacted by email at tmsangerville@sangervilleme.com

Good Friday morning residents of Sangerville. I am happy to report we have had another positive week in the town of Sangerville. We started the week with our veterans day event.

We finished work on the West Rd. this week and that is greatly improved, all the people that use that road to access their property responded very positively to our work. The West Rd. has an interesting history, when it was built in the 1800s it was part of the main county road between Bangor and Parkman. I am not sure where it went from Parkman. When Scott Reynolds was doing excavation for the culvert replacement last week, he dug into some of the original wood corduroy material of the roadbed from the early 1800’s and that wood was still intact. You have to admire that when they built anything in the 19th century, it was built to last.

On the subject of road work, we are mostly focusing on finishing some small projects we need to complete before winter over the next week or two.

Our town hall committee from earlier this year was brought together for an informal work session on Wednesday night with the select board and me. This resulted in a very positive exchange of ideas. Some of that discussion will be put on the agenda for next week’s regular select board meeting. I think we may have openings for additional people on that committee as well. If you are interested contact us in the town office.

Also, on the town hall, our engineers were here this week and did some survey and more planning work. Steve, the lead engineer is planning to provide me with some contact information for roofers that we can use for this project, I am still hopeful we can get some roof work done this year.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Brian