The Standish Municipal Building on Route 35 is the site of the Annual Town Meeting to be held this Saturday.

Residents will gather at 9 a.m. on June 18 to vote on the 26 articles in this year’s town’s warrant. A copy of the warrant is available on the town’s Web site, www.standish.org.

Articles two through 23 deal with the 2006 fiscal year municipal budget. This year’s proposed gross municipal budget is $5.9 million, up 16 percent from last year’s budget of $5.1 million.

Although the town’s spending will increase if the budget is passed, the net municipal budget, which offsets the gross municipal budget with revenues from fees and services, will actually decrease by 1.5 percent, or $22,800.

“We worked very hard and long to keep our budget down,” said Standish Town Councilor Dolores Lymburner. “We haven’t been extravagant.”

Because the total estimated tax base or property value in Standish has increased from $882 million to $947 million, the mill rate is expected to drop from $10.75 to $9.96 per thousand of valuation. But the figure is subject to change pending commitment from the assessor’s office.

The breakdown of expenditures by department is as follows:

• Assessing would decrease by 60.8 percent to $65,000 mainly because the town’s revlaution process is finished.

• Code enforcement would increase 4.1 percent to nearly $75,000.

• The budget for general administration would increase 0.8 percent to $232,000.

• The cable television budget would decrease 5.4 percent to $49,000.

• The town council’s budget would decrease 4.8 percent to $40,000.

• The town clerk’s budget would decrease 15.4 percent to $127,000.

• The finance budget would increase 38 percent to $143,000.

• The planning budget would decrease 14.5 percent to $102,000.

• Budget figures for the appeals board would remain the same.

• The budget for building maintenance would decrease 5.7 percent to $132,000.

• Public safety budget figures would increase by 2.8 percent to $772,000.

• Law enforcement figures would increase 18.4 percent to $403,000.

• The budget for general assistance would decrease 8.2 percent to $89,000.

• The public works budget would increase by 9.7 percent to $857,000.

• The budget for solid waste would decrease by 9 percent to $619,000.

• The recreation budget would increase by 6.8 percent to $260,000.

• The budget for donations would decrease 3.8 percent to $15,000.

• The budget for capital would increase 23.5 percent to $999,000.

• The employee benefits budget would increase 1.4 percent to $461,000.

• Insurance budget figures would increase 10.5 percent to $82,000.

• The budget for debt service would increase 9.2 percent to $396,000.

Immediately following the town meeting and the ensuing town council meeting, which is held to elect their new officers for the 2005-2006 municipal year, Standish will hold a special town meeting in which the residents will vote on four articles that would appropriate monies from the unreserved undesignated fund.

Article Two in the special town meeting’s warrant asks for the appropriation of $40,000 to offset the legal fees incurred from the ongoing lawsuit with the Portland Water District over the boat launch.

Article Three asks for $22,000 for overages in solid waste disposal, a figure that is, according to Town Manager Gordon Billington, “much less than the town thought it would be.”

Last year’s town meeting in Standish lasted only 30 minutes, with about 45 voters in attendance.

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