CASTINE — On a soaking wet Saturday morning, almost 100 residents gathered in Emerson Hall for the annual Town Meeting.
Over the course of two and a half hours, those residents approved municipal and school budgets of, respectively, $2,000,084 and $1,426,404. The school budget will increase 2.81 percent from the current year’s, while the town’s will decrease 1 percent.
But it was two items not reflected in those numbers that may leave the greatest legacy around Castine in the coming years. Residents also authorized the treasurer and selectmen to borrow up to $6,245,000 for the second phase of the town’s Main Street improvement, a project currently in the design phase that is expected to come to fruition by next summer.
Of that borrowed amount, $5,275,000 will fund the main project, while two additional bonds totaling up to $970,000 will go to simultaneously burying the town’s Main Street electric, telephone and cable lines underground.
Residents also authorized the town to borrow up to $500,000 for a separate project to upgrade Castine’s water filtration system.
Find in-depth coverage of local news in The Ellsworth American. Subscribe digitally or in print.
Charles Eichacker
Latest posts by Charles Eichacker (see all)
- Larry Wahl keeps maps, globes, ice cream scoops for posterity - April 28, 2016
- GSA chef serves up Chinese and other cuisines - March 31, 2016
- Energy savings reaped through integrated plan - March 26, 2016