March 16

Detroit voters deny snowmobile club funding, claiming trail-grooming negligence

BY BRENDA SEEKINS, Correspondent

DETROIT -- Voters at Saturday's annual Town Meeting cited a lack of trail maintenance as reason enough for not sharing snowmobile registration funds with the local Nightdrifters Snowmobile Club.

Fifteen residents -- just three fewer than those who took part in Friday's uncontested municipal elections -- gathered for the annual meeting at the town hall.

A standard article in the annual warrant to benefit the snowmobile club was denied.

Most of the remaining 34 warrant articles were approved, according to Town Clerk Kathy Walston, with a few exceptions.

Family Violence Project funding was reduced from a request of $1,775 to a donation of $250. Similarly, a request from Kennebec Valley Mental Health for $500 was trimmed to $250; Crisis and Counseling, from $1,604.69 to $320; Sexual Assault, Crisis and Support, from $286 to $250; and Hospice, from $300 to $250.

Requests for donations or membership for Somerset Economic Development, Kennebec Valley Council of Governments, United Cerebral Palsy, Maine Public Broadcasting, Sebasticook Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Newport Cultural Center were denied.

After an hour and 10 minutes in the annual meeting, voters approved a municipal budget of $379,624, an increase of $1,114 from the 2012 total. It is not expected to affect the tax rate, which is $13.45 per $1,000 of valuation.

Selectman Ethan Kelley and SAD 53 Director Debbie Killam were re-elected in Friday's voting.

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