SKOWHEGAN — The town of Skowhegan’s budget for 2024-25 was finalized Tuesday evening after a special town meeting corrected a typo on the town meeting warrant presented to voters earlier this month.
At a brief special town meeting, about 30 voters approved an article to raise and appropriate $158,071 for general government spending.
The meeting lasted a few minutes, with no discussion. A “handful” of voters opposed the article, according to Town Manager Dawn DiBlasi.
The amount was not included in the warrant article for general government at the June 10 town meeting due to a typographical error, town officials said previously. The listed figure was $2,265,924, when it should have been $2,423,995.
The issue could not be corrected at the regular town meeting because the amount listed in a warrant article cannot be increased.
In total, voters approved $17.69 million in municipal spending, compared to the Board of Selectmen’s proposed budget of $17.70 million. The budget proposal was a 1.84% increase to the budget approved last year.
Town officials have yet to determine the new property tax rate, which also factors in the county and school district budgets.
The Somerset County assessment for Skowhegan will be $2.94 million, according to the budget the Somserset County Commissioners approved in May.
The Maine School Administrative District 54 assessment will be $9.97 million, according to the budget approved by voters at the district’s June referendum. Both are increases over last year.
Tuesday’s special town meeting was immediately followed by the first meeting of the Board of Selectmen since two new members were elected.
Amber Lambke, 49, and Elijah Soll, 44, won three-year terms earlier this month in a five-way election for two open seats. Former Chairman Todd Smith did not seek another term, and Harold Bigelow did not win reelection, finishing third in balloting.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Modify your screen name
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your CentralMaine.com account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.