Top discussion items for Alna’s annual town meeting this Saturday will likely include the proposed town wide revaluation and a proposed firehouse expansion.
At least that is what First Selectman Billie Willard foresees, and she favors both items.
The town meeting last year opposed two options costing more than $1 million each for construction of a new firehouse and town office complex, but this year’s fire department plan has a lower price tag of a total $375,000.
Earlier this year the Alna fire department received a private contribution of $160,000, which it would have to put towards the firehouse addition and improvement of the present facility along with $15,000 it has in reserve for that purpose, according to the terms of the warrant article.
Willard is currently the only selectman recommending passage of the article. The other two selectmen have no recommendation.
The Alna Volunteer Fire Dept. recommends a term of 10 years for no more than $200,000 while the article would require no more than 15 years in payback time.
The new firehouse addition would reconstruct bays on the Rt. 27 side of the facility thereby eliminating the turning that has to take place now. Other changes would also occur such as the addition of badly needed training space, added height for the newer fire trucks, and sufficient office space, all of which the present facility lacks.
Under the terms of the town meeting article, the fire department will hire and supervise contractors and manage the project, and the town will pay for labor, materials and other services during the course of the construction.
If approved, ownership of the building would remain with the fire department, and the department would enter into an agreement with the town assuring continued and uninterrupted use of the building and addition for town meetings, elections, and other administrative and cultural needs of the community.
A subsequent article asks for a vote on $68,741 in funds proposed for the fire department compared to $92,588 voted at last year’s town meeting.
“It will bring properties into proper perspective, and we will have new buildings that will be in the new re-valuation,” she said.
According to the article, the proposed revaluation would be substantially greater than the annual valuation update, which deals mainly with new construction. It would include a comprehensive update consisting of review/analysis of recent property sales, selected property visits, equalization of property values, post update discussions, and professional consultation.
The particular plan proposed meets the state’s property equalization requirement while not having to fund a full revaluation, according to Willard.
“There are a few of us who think that would be a wise thing to do,” she said. “We have the money.”
Willard said the town’s assessing agent, O’Donnell Associates of New Gloucester, would conduct the project, and the town would only have to approve an additional $6500 done every year for an update. She said a reserve account added to each year for a revaluation totals $23,800, which would be transferred to the account for O’Donnell’s work.
The total $30,300 will cover the cost of the revaluation, which is not a full-blown revaluation, but would suffice to bring the town up to 100 percent, Willard said.
“We don’t have the surplus to use this year. It’s nothing anybody did wrong. It’s the economy,” Willard said.
In 2008, the town approved warrant articles allocating $90,000 from excise taxes and transferring $101,000 from surplus to reduce taxes.