WATERFORD — Annual town meetings voters will be asked to approve a $1.2 million municipal budget, adopt a resolution against the shipment of tar sands and OK a plan to appoint rather than elect the road commissioner.

The meeting to act on the 72-article warrant gets under way at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 2, in the Waterford Municipal Building on Valley Road.

The meeting will follow the March 1 annual town election on Friday, March 1. Selectman Wyatt Andrews is seeking re-election, and Judy Green is seeking a seat vacated by former SAD 17 director Bill Hanger.

Polls will be open at the fire station from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m

On Saturday voters will be asked to approve a municipal budget of $1,251,574, a $16,564 (1.34 percent) increase over last year’s budget. Nearly all of the increase is due to a recommendation that the town’s paving budget be increased by $16,522.

In their report to voters, selectmen said, if the increase is approved, it will mean a .08 increase in the mill rate. Selectmen said the increase is being requested, because Waterford has approximately 40 miles of roads that must be tarred. The board had hoped to increase the amount by another $40,000, but with the uncertainty of the Oxford Hills School District budget, that was impossible.

The board said they expect that the mill rate may be increased significantly this year once the school budget and state budgeting process is completed. Voters won’t act on the school budget until June.

Voters are being told that if the “worst case” estimate for the school budget is enacted, it would place the mill rate somewhere near $15 per $1,000 valuation. Selectmen say they are hoping it will come in “somewhere south of $14.50” per thousand, but say it is very difficult to estimate at this time.

“It hasn’t been a problem, until this year,” Lessard said this week of the board’s ability to present reasonable estimates on the final mill rate. “I’ve never seen this level of uncertainty.”

In other action, voters will be asked to change the position of road commissioner from elected to appointed to ensure that someone with know-how is on the job. The current foreman, Bradley Grover, whose term expires in 2014, is highly qualified for the job, but selectmen say that may not always be the case if the person is elected.

“We recognize that when his (Grover’s) time is done we need to hire a professional who knows what he’s doing,” Lessard said.

If approved, the new procedure will allow the three selectmen and four town residents to make the selection.

Voters will be asked to join other towns in enacting a resolution opposing the future shipment of tar sand oils down a pipeline from Canada passing through Waterford lands to Portland Harbor. There is no plan at this time to ship tar sand oils from Canada.

In municipal budget action voters will be asked in part to approve:

* $45,000 for the local fire protection

* $222,447 for highway and bridges

* $118,214 winter roads

* $166,5522 for tarring and resurfacing

. $169,550 for the transfer station

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