Dover-Foxcroft residents approve $6.8M budget at town meeting
DOVER-FOXCROFT — A proposed budget totaling $6,859,775 for the 2023-24 fiscal year was approved at the annual town meeting in the Morton Avenue Municipal Building Gymnasium on the morning of Saturday, April 22.
The figure will be offset by $3,894,920 in nontax revenues for a net amount of $2,964,855 to be raised through property taxes.
The total appropriation is up by $319,750 (4.89 percent) from the current fiscal year’s $6.5 million-plus figure.
Revenues are $254,392 (6.99 percent) more than the current fiscal year. The near net $2.9 million-plus to be raised represents an increase of $65,358 (2.25 percent) from 2022-23.
The budget approved on Saturday is now moved to a referendum vote on Tuesday, June 13, for final approval. On the ballot Dover-Foxcroft residents will also vote on the RSU 68 budget, along with citizens of the fellow district communities of Charleston, Monson, and Sebec.
All eight items making up the 2023 Dover-Foxcroft annual town meeting warrant were passed as written
The articles passed included a little less than $5.8 million for town operations which after $1,210,215 in revenue and surplus equals a net total of nearly $4.6 million to be raised.
A sum of $350,000 was approved for a capital equipment reserve account. A question was asked about the fire department’s increase from $50,000 to $195,000.
“The town is replacing the tank truck for the fire department,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said.
The Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department’s near 30-year-old tank truck that has been out of service and is in need of costly repairs will be replaced with a 2024 model.
In January the select board approved a purchase agreement with Midwest Fire of Luverne, Minnesota. A $10,000 deposit was due with the contract signing, and an estimated $145,000 will be paid upon completion of the chassis in April 2024. The remaining balance would be due upon completion of the truck for a total project cost of $522,735. The estimated delivery date is July 2024.
Before $600,000 from the state was accepted for road and bridge repairs Clukey was asked about work on various overpasses throughout town.
He said there is a number of bridge construction pending or will be pending, including Essex Street which is a project of the Maine Department of Transportation. He said the East Main Street bridge is in the early stages of MDOT study and would be put in the department’s budget process.
Around the corner from the East Main Street bridge is a smaller bridge underneath the North Street intersection end of Lincoln Street. Clukey said a replacement project would have an approximate $2 million cost with the town having a $200,000 share.
Permitting and design work would be needed first. “You’ll see a bridge line in the budget for the foreseeable future,” Clukey said.
The town manager was also asked about the corner of East Main Street and Route 7, which the state plans to widen to allow for easier turns by tractor trailer trucks. Clukey this work was set to be later in the year and “as far as I know it’s still on for 2024.”