GLENBURN, Maine — Voters will consider a proposed $2.6 million budget for municipal operations and an $8.3 million school budget during their annual town meeting next month.
They also will decide whether they want to send their trash to the proposed Fiberight waste-to-energy facility slated for Hampden or if they would rather stick with their current service provider, the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington, Town Manager Michael Crooker said last week.
Residents are being asked to raise the money needed to fund school officials’ $8,384,396 spending plan for 2016-17, up $84,734 from this year, Crooker said.
If adopted, the education budget will require $3,727,226 in local funds, or $193,628 more than this year, he said.
Voters also will consider a $2,672,520 budget for municipal operations in the year ahead. Crooker said that total reflects a $59,193 increase from this year.
If the town and school budget are approved as is, Crooker projects a property tax rate of between $20.30 and $20.65 per $1,000 in property valuation, depending on what the assessor determines is the change in the town’s overall evaluation.
The town’s current tax rate is $19.65 per $1,000, he said.
With regard to trash, residents will see two warrant articles.
The first is the Town Council’s recommendation to remain a member of the Municipal Review Committee, a nonprofit representing the trash interests of 187 towns and cities that has partnered with Maryland-based Fiberight to build a roughly $70 million solid waste processing facility in Hampden that would serve its member communities after PERC’s lucrative electricity-producing contract with Emera Maine expires in 2018.
The tipping fee would be $70 per ton for the initial 15-year term, subject to annual adjustment to reflect percentage increases in the Consumer Price Index.
Should that article fail, the other would authorize the town to ink an agreement with PERC at a cost of either $84.36 per ton for 15 years or $89.57 per ton for 10 years.
The annual town meeting is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, at the Glenburn School gym.