POLAND — Voters at the annual town meeting April 2 will act on a proposed municipal budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 of $5.7 million, an increase of nearly $220,000 over the current year’s budget of $5.5 million.

The effect on the property tax rate, as estimated by Town Manager Bradley Plante, should be no more than 6 cents for every $1,000 in property valuation, he said. The low tax increase is the result of a plan to transfer $240,000 from the town’s Tax Increment Financing accounts.

Plante noted that while selectmen and the town Budget Committee worked hard to keep departmental budgets in line, the amount being requested for this summer’s road paving program increased by $180,000, rising from $250,000 last year to this year’s $430,000.

“The board felt it had to step up to the plate so we wouldn’t be falling farther and farther behind on our roads,” Plante said.

Plante cited three articles dealing with the Walker/McConaghy house for their potential to generate considerable debate, noting that some residents are calling for the creation of a village historical district encompassing the Town Hall, old Town Office, library, the community church and three houses across the street from the McConaghy house and the McConaghy house itself.

The Walker/McConaghy house is the large red building on Maine Street, between Ricker Memorial Library and the Town Hall, acquired by the town three years ago.

The three articles are:

• Article 31, on the warrant by citizens’ petition, calls for repairing the building, making it wheelchair-accessible in order that it might be used for town purposes or as a commercial rental property.

• Article 32, which is not recommended by selectmen and the Budget Committee, requests up to $102,000 make the improvements necessary to bring the Walker/McConaghy house into compliance with wheelchair-accessibility regulations.

• Article 33, which will be voted on only if Article 31 fails, asks residents to raise $30,000 to demolish the Walker/McConaghy house and to restore the site for future use.

Residents will also be asked to raise $10,000 in support of a larger project to correct erosion problems at the town beach on Tripp Lake.

The selectmen and Budget Committee are in full support of the Conservation Commission’s proposal to establish the “Heart of Poland Conservation Easement,” protecting some 95 acres of woodland on town-owned property that extends from the municipal complex on Maine Street to the town’s transfer station property on Tripp Lake Road. Residents will vote on whether to raise $7,500 for expenditures related to securing the easement.

The town meeting will also act on seven amendments to the town’s land use code, as proposed by the Planning Board.

The business portion of the town meeting will commence Saturday, April 2, at 9 a.m. in the Poland Regional High School auditorium.

Polls to elect municipal officials will be open at the Town Hall on Friday, April 1, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Selectmen Walter Gallager and James Walker Jr. are running unopposed for new three-year terms on the board of selectmen.

• School Committee members Norman Davis and Leonard Lamoreau are running unopposed for the two two-year seats on the RSU 16 School Committee.

• No one is running for the two open three-year seats on the Ricker Library board of trustees.

• Kathryn Oak and Tamara Willis, both of whom are first-time seekers of municipal office, are listed on the ballot as running for the single open three-year seat on the RSU 16 School Committee.

Oak, employed by the town of Mechanic Falls as manager of the transfer station and the town’s safety and health compliance officer, grew up in Portland; graduated from Scarborough High School; has an associate’s degree in environmental technology from Southern Maine Community College; and will graduate this May from USM with a bachelor’s degree in health science.

“I am hoping my interests and enthusiasm in the health of our community and environment coupled with my education will be of benefit to our schools,” Oak said.

Her son, Zachary, is in the sixth grade at Poland Community School.

Willis, citing a need to attend to an increase in family obligations, announced at Poland’s Candidate Night Wednesday that she could not serve on the School Committee at this time and was withdrawing her name from consideration.