NEW SHARON – After passing an article last year that changed the election process for town officials, a secret ballot system will open at the Town Office from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 16.
Four positions will be voted on, with candidates in all four seats running uncontested for reelection. Selectman Travis Pond will be running for reelection to the Selectboard, Erin Norton is running for another term as treasurer, Edward John Pond as road commissioner and Jeffrey Harris as director on the Regional School Unit 9 school board. All positions are for three-year terms.
The meeting itself will take place at Cape Cod Hill School on Saturday, March 17 beginning at 9 a.m. as usual. Selectboard Chair Lorna Nichols said the warrant does not contain any significant budgetary changes, resulting in a roughly 1 percent increase as compared to last year if passed. Warrants are available at the Town Office, Douin’s Market and Sandy River Farm Supply.
“We’re going to be pretty boring this year,” Nichols said.
In 2017 the New Sharon municipal spending increased $105,005 over the previous year. That represents an 11% increase over the 2016 year.
The reason that the New Sharon tax rate did not go up in 2017 was because the State Legislature substantially increased school funding. This allowed for a $150,000 decrease in RSU 9’s annual education bill to New Sharon which enabled a slight decrease in New Sharon’s 2017 tax rate.
If the Legislature does not maintain the 2017 level of education funding in 2018, New Sharon’s tax rate will go up sharply because of the 2017 11% increase in Town spending.
Also, last fall, the voters approved Medicaid expansion (MaineCare) which will be consuming a sizable chunk of additional tax dollars in 2018. This could have a major impact on the amount of tax dollars available for education in Augusta in 2018.