FRENCHVILLE, Maine – About a dozen Frenchville residents passed a $1.46 million municipal budget during the town’s annual town meeting in late March. The expense budget is up $72,916 over last year’s $1.39 million budget.
Most increases were spread evenly across the town’s departments. Frenchville Town Manager David Cyr said there was a roughly 9% increase in insurance costs and cost of living adjustments. This resulted in a $16,659 increase in general government, an $18,228 increase in public works, and a $12,148 increase in recreation.
The town also added $122,600 into its capital reserves this year, which is slightly down from its addition of $164,000 into reserves last year. Cyr said the town has been continuously contributing to the capital reserves in anticipation of a large project that involves upgrading two areas that cross the Gagnon Brook stream at Pelletier Avenue and Starbarn Avenue, as well as upgrading the brook’s watershed drainage system.
Frenchville has sought these repairs since late 2023. Cyr said a major flood that occurred in Bethel in December of 2023 and made much of the town impossible to traverse inspired him and other officials to take action before an event like this occurs in their own community. The town has since reached out to a team of senior engineering students at the University of Maine at Orono who studied the area for their capstone project. The study found that if a 100-year flood event were to occur, it would cause significant structural damage.
Since then, Frenchville has received two $200,000 grants from the Maine Department of Transportation to fund the project.
“We’re trying to get as much grant money as we can for the project,” Cyr said. “We haven’t gone out to bid, so we don’t know what our local obligation will be.”
He said the town is still waiting to hear back from FEMA on an additional grant application that would help with the stream crossing work, but that this is tied up with the ongoing government shutdown. If approved, the FEMA grant would cover $930,000.
While the total cost of the project is currently unknown, an initial cost estimate two years ago was about $1.4 million.
Cyr said that the work would save the town money and headaches down the road if a major flood event does take place.
“It’s an investment in the town’s infrastructure. Everybody looks at roads and all they see is pavement; I look at roads and think, ‘how will this react in a storm?’”
Residents also approved a non-budget item on the agenda that authorized the placement of a Veteran’s Memorial in Heritage Park. This item only approves the placement of the memorial in the town’s park and does not involve raising any additional taxpayer funding. A group of local veterans has been working to raise up to $35,000 for the installation and maintenance of the monument.
