Residents of Nobleboro will gather Sat., March 17, at 10 a.m. at Nobleboro Central School for the Annual Town Meeting. Town officials say there is little on the warrant this year that is not standard operating procedure.
At the referendum portion of town meeting – Fri., March 16, from noon to 6 p.m. at the town office – voters will decide whether to approve a new variance to be added to the town’s land use ordinance.
The variance would give the board of appeals greater authority to approve structures that don’t meet some aspect of the town’s setbacks and other dimensional standards. Under current ordinance, the board of appeals has almost no authority to grant appeals except in a very narrow set of circumstances, members of the board said at a public hearing March 16.
The proposed town budget is $748,752: a $37,351 (5.3 percent) increase over last year’s budget.
The increase is primarily to two areas of the budget, Spear said. The proposed fire department budget is up $5595, for a total request of $62,000; the proposed budget for road maintenance and paving is up $31,000, for a total request of $171,000.
The increase to the fire department budget is “basically a small increase across the board,” Spear said. Each expense for the department – particularly training and equipment – is up slightly because the department has more new members this year than in years past, Spear said.
The increase to the paving budget will allow the town to cover more roads in the coming year than they have in last few years, Spear said.
