Sangerville select board to remain at two seats through town meeting

SANGERVILLE — A vacancy on the Sangerville Select Board created by the resignation of Josh Tracy last month will remain through the annual town meeting on the last Saturday of March.

The decision to remain with Chair Jeff Peters and Vice Chair Mike Gould and not hold a special election over the next 3-plus months was finalized during a Dec. 10 select board meeting at the fire station.

“I think we were all thinking the same way that at town meeting time we would draw from a bigger and better pool to replace Josh than you’re going to get just before Christmas having a special town meeting,” Peters said. “I think everybody’s in agreement with that and as long as nobody in the town has a gripe with it.”

No residents have approached Town Manager Brian Mullis about concerns with having just two on the select board, he said. Peters has also not heard anything on the board vacancy.

“Where we’ve heard nothing I am of the opinion we should paddle the boat until town meeting,” he said, saying the year’s big decisions have all been made.

In other business, the select board signed a contract with Hamlin Associates of Parkman for next year’s assessing and tax bill services. The agreement will be for $21,855 with $1,821 monthly payments starting in January. The amount is up from $20,600 for the previous year.

Based on the advice of Hamlin Associates, Sangerville will need to make an adjustment in evaluations.

In his report on the town Facebook page, Mullis explained that the town was reevaluated in 2024 but evaluations are based on the real estate market which has been very inflated the last few years in Maine. The recent evaluation which was 100% is now at 84%. Concerns are that if the rate continues to drop, state programs such as homestead reimbursement could be negatively affected.  

The select board opted to have Hamlin Associates use a factoring process to bring the town evaluation back to a higher percentage. This service will cost an additional $5,000.

“This process will be applied equally to all property owners, and it will increase your evaluation,” Mullis wrote. “The important point to note is that we will be decreasing the mill rate so that overall tax bills will not increase because of this factoring. The mill rate will be set after the town voters approve a municipal budget at the annual town meeting on March 28, 2026, and the school assessment is received in June. We hope not to have a repeat of the school budget struggle that we had this year, but I guess that bridge gets crossed when we come to it. We will be taking great care through the development of our municipal budget to ensure we are spending your tax dollars wisely.”

“The valuation will increase but the actual amount will be subject to where we assign the mill rate,” Peters said.

“I want people to be confident they are not going to see a huge increase in their tax bills because of this,” Mullis said.

The select board accepted a $336 donation from Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union, raised through employee dress down days, to be put toward a recreation committee fund to replace the playground equipment at Veterans Memorial Park.

In his report, Mullis said representatives from town hall roof contractor Roof Systems of Maine plan to meet with the select board at the Jan. 21 meeting to answer questions about the project. 

Town officials have had some concerns over the scope of work. They are waiting to make payment until everything is clarified as the actual contract was between Roof Systems of Maine and engineer Wentworth Partnerships & Associates of Skowhegan.

An amount of $18,800 and costs for the lift were mentioned as payment as the town is not refusing to pay, but would like to have some questions answered and is willing to pay a fair price.

A $250,000 Maine Historical Preservation grant for the town hall has been submitted.

“I think we’ve got all the t’s crossed and all the i’s dotted and have a good application in,” Mullis said, thanking everyone who assisted with the document. The town should hear back in February.

Mullis has also learned of a $50,000 grant opportunity through T-Mobile, so he is working on the application.