It has been projected that the proposed $4.3 million spending plan will be offset by $1.7 million in revenues, leaving $2,537,564 to be raised and appropriated.

Last year, residents approved expenditures of $4 million, which were offset by $1.5 million in revenues, leaving $2,542,918 to be raised locally.

Although the budget has been prepared, town officials expect there will be more cuts made to reduce the plan.

“I anticipate it’s going to be reduced significantly,” Dexter Town Manager Robert Simpson said Monday. He noted that major increases were reflected in education, health premiums, property insurance, the county tax and parks and recreation.

Simpson said that during his budget preparations, he reduced programs to lower the expenditures as much as possible. For instance, the town’s auditor had recommended that the town purchase the automated motor vehicle registration program available through the state at a cost of $13,000. “We had to write that off,” he said.

Funding also has been reduced for a number of capital improvement projects, such as the purchase of a new firetruck and municipal building improvements. These reductions, however, should not affect the day-to-day operation of local government, he noted.

The Town Council will begin its first review of the proposed spending plan on May 17.

In other local news, the council last week voted to sign an emergency order to impose a temporary weight restriction of 32,000 pounds on Acadia Street. The move was made after town officials and residents learned that a large parcel of land had been sold on the street. The new owner, Wayne Washburn of Ripley, had planned to harvest the timber on the property and transport the logs over Acadia Street.

There were at least three reasons that persuaded the board to impose the weight restriction. They included the fact that the street was not built for 100,000-pound vehicles; that the Department of Transportation planned to do some road reconstruction on Route 7 in the immediate area of Acadia Street which would cause some congestion; and because the water district also planned to replace water mains in connection with the road reconstruction.

Dexter’s replacement cannon will soon be on display.

The town’s former war cannon disappeared from the local reserve center and is believed to be on display at a military installation out of state. The military provided another cannon for the town, and the council last week approved a new location for it at the corner of Grove and Dam streets. The VFW and the local American Legion Post had suggested this location and offered to pay the cost of the materials for he concrete pad that will be installed this week by the public works department. The cannon will be placed on site on June 3, and a dedication will be held on July 4.

A pad previously had been installed at the recreation area at Lake Wassookeag in anticipation of the arrival of the cannon, but Simpson said this pad would be used for a covered picnic area instead.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Tuesday, May 15, 2001 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."