Voters in Chichester will see a basically flat-funded budget on the ballot this year.
At the budget’s public hearing on Tuesday, the select board and budget committee green-lit a $2,138,528 spending plan for next year, up by a little over $12,000 from this year’s budget. Town officials estimate a tax impact of $4.30 per $1,000 of assessed property value, special warrant articles not included.
Other warrant articles approved Tuesday include a $118,500 appropriation to be divvied up into capital reserve funds. The warrant article stipulates half that amount will be raised through taxes – at a cost of $0.23 on the tax rate – and the other half will come from the year-end surplus.
Selectman Jeff Jordan told the public the board had suggested raising half through taxes and not entirely from the surplus because the town’s reserves were a little low.
“We were going to fund that totally from the fund balance,” Jordan said. “But we decided – we were at 2 percent and the state recommends we keep 5. So to do some of this through taxation, we’ll be up a little over 3 percent.”
The select board and budget committee also approved warrant articles to raise funds for a new plow truck, re-paving at the town library, new police radios, and a utility trailer for the forestry and fire departments.
The select board removed one item from the warrant – a proposal to relinquish the town’s ownership of Old Clifford Road, a class VI road.
Homeowners on the road requested the measure, according to a letter read to the board by town administrator Jodi Pinard. The letter argued that because the road was a public way, hunters, shooters, and even partying teenagers had access to, and felt entitled to use, the surrounding private forest without permission.
“It’s basically a road to nowhere,” one abutter, Gordon Jones, told the board.
Jones told the board that about a year and half ago, he’d gone down to the road after hearing several hours of automatic rifle gunfire to find people target shooting on the public right-of-way.
“They were not all too friendly when I talked to them,” he said.
Select board members told Jones they were sympathetic but felt uncomfortable recommending the measure, though they reminded Jones he could petition to put it back on.
Residents have until Feb. 7 to get a warrant on the ballot and need 25 signatures, town administrator Jodi Pinard told the board.
Chichester residents will vote March 14 on the town’s budget, warrant articles, and town officers. The polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Chichester Grange Hall, located at 54 Main St.
(Lola Duffort can be reached at 369-3321 or lduffort@cmonitor.com.)