Hancock select board members nailed down its proposed 2017 warrant articles during a regular meeting Monday night.
The largest warrant-article item is for an equipment lease for a 2001 International truck for the town’s Highway Department. The proposed total cost for the equipment is about $156,900, which will be paid over five years. The lease has a non-appropriations clause, meaning if taxpayers decide to go through with the warrant article one year but not another, it can send the equipment back. The warrant article for the lease is $34,505 this year, a number that includes the cost plus interest.
Cemetery trustees have also asked for a $10,000 warrant article this year to help expand the Hillside Cemetery lot. It will ask for the same amount of money over the course of five years to make a parcel of land abutting the current cemetery, which was donated by longtime Hancock residents.
The town is also looking to increase a bridge capital reserve fund from $10,000 to $20,000. A town official said the Longview Bridge is currently “red listed.” The town has applied for state money to complete bridge work, but has not heard whether the request will be granted or not.
“We are on the list, but if there is some potential funding we would like to get our full engineering study and plan done,” said Town Administrator Diane Kendall. “So we want to be ready.”
Select Board Chair John Jordan said the town has already completed a preliminary engineering study on the bridge, but now the actual engineering needs to be completed.
“We want to have the funds in the capital reserve to pay for the engineering,” Kendall said.
The recreation department is also seeking a $19,000 warrant article for a new raft and docks to be put in Norway Pond.
There will be a handful of other warrant articles presented during a public hearing scheduled for Monday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Town Office building.
Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.