INDUSTRY – Residents approved a $456,944 budget on Saturday as well as an article that will authorize the selectmen to borrow $400,000 for the paving of the town’s roads.
Votes were cast in the election prior to the meeting, reelecting selectman Robert Guiser into the position of second selectmen and electing Jesse Sillanpaa to the Regional School Unit 9 school board.
The budget showed an 11.6 percent increase from last year’s expenditures, or $47,495.
Residents were asked to approve a request for a $400,000 loan to pay for the repaving of town roads throughout the next year, with a secret ballot vote resulting in 20 to 14 decision in favor of the proposal. In addition, residents voted to raise and appropriate another $100,000 to jump start the project.
“We could take out $100,000 every year for the next five years to get it done, or we could address it all at once and pay it off over the next four years,” Chairman Lee Ireland said.
The loan would accrue $38,345 in interest over the five-year period, according to Ireland. The project would begin with the lower section of Rand Road and would go out to bid as soon as the details are finalized.
“We’re going to do it right. We want the biggest bang for our hot topping dollars and we aren’t going to spend foolishly,” he said.
