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Carrabassett Valley residents to vote on new library/community building project

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CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Residents will have the final say on a proposed library and community building Wednesday night, at the annual town meeting.

Polls open at the town office at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. for the election of local officials. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Outdoor Center.

The final item on the 55-article warrant will ask residents if they want to appropriate no more than $1.55 million to fund the project. That money would be raised through several sources, with $200,000 from Undesignated Surplus and $300,000 from the Recreation Endowment Fund coming directly from the town.

A total of $511,000 in donations and privately-raised funding will also be available for use when construction begins.

The remaining $675,000 to complete the project will be borrowed, with the exact interest rate and terms chosen by the selectmen.

The project will seek to serve both as a home for the town’s library, as well as a community space to serve a variety of functions. The 6,600 square foot building will consist of two wings, with one housing the library stacks and reading areas.

The other wing would house the operations of Western Maine Centers for Children, which would rent the space and furnish that part of the building. That organization manages the program currently being run out of a Sugarloaf/USA facility, which began as a community care program for employees and later expanded for use by the town. The building, which would be situated near the Anti-Gravity Center, will be accompanied by a playground and some landscaping.

To the rear of the building, designers have included a 75-seat community meeting area. This addition was included as a result of the project’s public meetings, at which some residents recommended the inclusion.

The construction costs for the building itself are estimated at $1.3 million, with another $165,000 to pay the architects, $70,000 for furnishing the building and $10,000 for surveys and other expenses, on top of that.

Of course, the library is not the only item on the warrant. Residents will also be asked to elect officials for the coming years. John Beaupre and Steven Pierce, both incumbents, are running unopposed to retain their seats on the board of selectmen. Incumbent Danielle London is seeking reelection to the school board, while incumbents Steven Pierce and John Clements are running unopposed for their positions in the Sanitary District.

The proposed municipal budget for 2009 consists of $1,879,750 in expenditures, a 2.2 percent increase from the previous year’s. Town Manager David Cota, in a review included in the town’s Annual Report, noted that the two biggest increases are in the Communications Center Budget and the town’s share of the transportation system.

The communications center is jointly paid for by the town and Sugarloaf, with the town paying roughly one third of the cost or $170,194. That’s a $20,373 increase from previous year’s.

The transportation system consists of shuttle bus services provided by a partnership of the town, Sugarloaf, state and Western Maine Transportation Inc. The cost to the town for this service, which was until recently run by the ski mountain, is proposed to be $117,072 in 2009, or roughly one quarter the total cost to run the transportation system.

Cota explained in the report that the town would form two committees, one to study each of the two programs, who would sit down with the various parties and examine cost-containing strategies.

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