Milo residents approve $2.4M budget at town meeting

MILO — Voters approved an estimated 2022-23 budget of $2.4 million at Milo’s annual town meeting in the Ed Wingler Auditorium on Monday evening. 

The budget total is nearly the same as for the current fiscal year.

Milo’s financial obligations include $2,387,400 in municipal appropriation, an estimated $1,192,932 for its share of the SAD 41 budget, nearly $207,900 for the TIF financing plan, just under $150,000 for the Piscataquis County tax and $30,200-plus in overlay. 

After $1,524,151 in total allowable deductions, the net amount of $2,442,933 is to be raised in the tax commitment. 

In addition to the articles making up the $2.4 million net budget, more than a dozen other articles were also approved at town meeting, with close to 50 residents in attendance.

Municipal officials were authorized to use up to $74,000 from fund balance to pay for the demolition costs for buildings at 64 and 68 Main St. after using available TIF funds. 

Last month the selectboard selected Bangor-based Gardner Concrete to demolish the former J&S Furniture store and the Masonic Building. The board received four bids for the demolition and removal of the two buildings. Gardner Concrete proposed $74,000, the lowest bid, for the project.

Town officials previously held a public hearing, where members deemed the structures dangerous buildings. The roof of the Masonic Building partially collapsed in March 2021 while the owner, her two children and boyfriend were inside, but they escaped without injuries.

Via an affirmative vote, the town will permit one marijuana dispensary cultivation facility to operate at 87 Park St. 

Select Chairperson Paula Copeland said the business will need to follow all state and local laws. Milo Police Chief Nick Clukey compared the permitting and renewal process to that of a liquor license.

The facility would grow medical marijuna, which would be sold to dispensaries licensed by the state. The exterior of the facility would have 24-hour surveillance, according to a document that the building owners submitted to the selectboard. There will also be alarms and panic buttons throughout, along with steel doors that require a code to enter.

Another vote clarified an issue concerning Gould Street that may affect adjacent property owners.

Copeland said in the 1940s when the road was being built, the travelway was supposed to extend a greater distance than was constructed. Passage of the article clarifies in the public record that the town has searched its records and can affirm it never took any action to claim or acquire an interest in the described portion of Gould Street.

Residents authorized the selectboard to borrow up to $150,000 — for a term of up to five years with an estimated 2.5 percent interest rate for nearly $10,000 in interest — to purchase a used 10-wheel truck and two sand bodies for the public works department. The ensuing article authorized the use of up to $16,000 from fund balance to pay the estimated first year debt service payment.

A proposed itinerant vendors licensing ordinance was voted down. 

“This ordinance stemmed from this summer. We had someone selling ammo out of his pickup truck and we got a lot of complaints in the office about it,” Copeland said. The ordinance would have provided a license for such transactions to take place on town property/roadways. The fee would have been $300 for the first year, and then $100 annually to renew.

“There is an opportunity for someone interested in applying for it and it would be on a board agenda,” Town Manager Robert Canney said.

Exemptions would have been in place for food products and for vendors displaying wares at the annual Black Fly Festival. Sales can still be conducted on private property.

During the day’s referendum, Donald Banker and Eric Foss were both elected to 3-year terms on the selectboard. Mary Lynn Kazyaka was chosen for a 2-year term as one of Milo’s SAD 41 school board representatives. Incumbent Samantha Foss was reelected to 3-year term on the school board and Luke Noke was elected to a 3-year term.

The Piscataquis Observer’s Valerie Royzman contributed to this story.