Poland Mil Rate Stays the Same

by G.E. Twine
     
     POLAND – Officials report that the mil rate for fiscal year ending 2011 will be the same as last year at $13.4 per $1,000 of property value.
     “That means a $100,000 house would have a tax bill of $1,340,” said Town Manager Dana Lee. “That is the same as last year. The school and the town held the line on any new taxes this year. That was tough, because both of us lost massive amounts of revenue from the state.
     “I lost probably in the vicinity of $200,000 to $300,000. I can't remember the total amount the school was trying to make up, it seems to me somewhere in the vicinity of $1.3 million. In a relative sense, given the size of our budgets, both of those are huge revenue hits. So in order to hold the line on spending, we had to do a lot of cutting just to stay even.”
     Tax bills will be going out some time this week, he added.
     Two years ago Poland revalued its property. Before the revaluation the mil rate was approximately 23.8 After the revaluation it dropped to 13.4.
     “And now we've held that for the second year,” Lee continued.
     Lee added to hold the mil rate cuts were made with as little impact as possible.
     “There were some proposals that would've been fairly significant,” he said. “But we were able to work around those, mostly we did lots and lots of trimming at the margins of everything. We even took out little things like appreciation dinners that we held for volunteers. You just can't afford to do that anymore. We used to have an account to use if equipment broke down, now we just have to hope that it doesn't break down and maintain it better. We took out $3,000 here and $3,000 there, we just whittled, whittled and whittled to make it happen.”
     In other business, Lee reported on planned sewer and water pipe construction in the South Village.
     “We are hiring engineering firms to start working with us on the design of that water and sewer pipe system,” he said. “On September 2, the remaining top qualified firms will submit their pricing for the project. The town committee will review those proposals and make a recommendation to the board of selectmen in mid-September as to who to hire to do the design work.”
     The engineering work will design how the pipes will laid, where the tank will go, hydrology, lift stations and pump stations.
     “What we will need to make all of this stuff flow,” Lee continued, “and what the engineers presume it will cost when we bid it out to contractors. We hope to award the engineering bid September 21.”