PLAINFIELD — Salary increases and a $220,000 road grader are two of the items that will be on the warrant for Saturday’s annual Town Meeting, which will be held at the Public Safety Complex this year, rather than the Town Hall.
Finance Committee Chairman Lew Robbins said that the town is proposing a 2.5 percent cost of living salary increase this year for all town employees.
In the past, he said there had been some controversy over raises for individual employees, as well as questions regarding the level at which town positions were funded.
Because of this, Robbins said that the town has hired a consulting service that has produced a survey of the salaries in the surrounding towns. This, he says, will help ensure that Plainfield is compensating its employees equitably and competitively as the town moves forward.
Robbins said that the big item on the warrant this year for voter approval is a $220,000 grader for the Highway Department.
Other items include $60,000 for the purchase of seven self contained breathing apparatus for the Fire Department, $50,000 to repair the roof of the highway garage and $15,000 to purchase a brush chipper.
Voters will also be asked to approve using $80,000 of free cash to reduce the tax rate for fiscal 2019.
The requested budget for fiscal 2019 is $1,718,066, up $42,433, from last year.
Assistant Fire Chief David Alvord said the meeting is being relocated to the Public Safety Complex because the elevator in the Town Hall in not operating reliably and the meeting hall is on the second floor.
Because emergency services will still be in operation, voters are being asked to park at the town park next to the Public Safety Complex, so as not to obstruct emergency vehicles should they need to leave the complex.
The annual Town Meeting will begin at 1 p.m.
The annual town elections will be held from noon to 6 p.m. Polls will be located, as usual, on the first floor of the Town Hall.
There are no contested seats in this year’s annual Town elections.
The following people are on the ballot. These are three-year terms:
Claude Dupont, Board of Assessors; David Crowell, Board of Health; Hilary Weeks, Select Board; Sandra Moran, Library Trustees; Laurie Israel, moderator, one-year term; Winton Pitcoff, tree warden, one-year term; and Ellen Baer, Whiting Street Fund.