PHILLIPS — Last Tuesday, Aug. 24 the selectmen set the mil rate for the upcoming 2010/11 tax period. The board was also faced with some tough decisions concerning an increase in taxes while also maintaining an overlay.

In the end, the rate was set at 0.185 up from 0.178 from the previous year. The 18.5 rate will yield $1,434,282 in revenue.

Last year the rate was set to yield $56,334 in overlay. The maximum amount the selectmen could raise in overlay is $70,522. This would have put the rate over 19 mils. This was not an option the selectmen wanted, said interim town manager Elaine Hubbard.

Selectman Margaret Cosenza said, “I have a really hard time penalizing the people who pay their taxes and also understand that we’re all in a tough financial bind.”

The options presented were an 18.2 mil rate which if everyone paid their taxes would create a rather risky $1,100 in overlay. If the selectmen raised the rate one full mil to 18.8 the overlay would have been set at $47,654, Hubbard explained.

The board took the “in-between” approach with the 18.5 mil rate for $24,388 in projected overlay.

Hubbard explained that there were many reasons why taxes were up in Phillips. Personal property valuation was down to $1,648,215 from $1,815,305. This is primarily due to people or businesses moving away from the town.

Homestead Exemption was also down $3,045,620, from over $4 million the year before. School district funding, county tax, municipal appropriation and URIP (Urban Rural Initiative Program) also determine the resident taxes.

“The biggest reason our taxes went up is the increase in our appropriation for the school,” Hubbard explained. Phillips is paying an increase of $118,000 over last year.

In other business, long term resident Charles Wilbur presented the selectmen with a proposed ordinance for a recall election in the town.

Wilbur who held the position of selectmen in town for nearly 16 years explained that times have changed. In the past, he explained, selectmen were elected year by year, and now, once elected, they could be in power for threeyear terms.

He also made it clear that the three-page ordinance he was presenting had no reflection on any of the current selectpersons in town or on the job they are doing for the town.

Unlike many other towns, Phillips has no provision for removing an elected official. Wilbur’s proposed ordinance called for the recall of any elected official with the exception of a school board director.

A petition to recall an official would need to circulate and garner a number of signatures equal to or more than 10 percent of the registered voters in the previous gubernatorial election.

The ordinance calls for the selectmen to contact the official named in the petition and provides specific time periods for an election to occur. At the request of the person being recalled, a public hearing can be scheduled seven days prior to the election.

The ballot question asks “shall (name of official) be recalled?” and provides adjacent boxes for “yes” or “no” responses.

In the event of an affirmative vote for removal, such vote shall take effect upon recording the vote tabulation into the records.

Wilbur’s proposed ordinance says that no officer can be recalled with fewer than four months in office, or with fewer than 60 days of a multiyear term remaining.

The selectmen that evening thanked Wilbur for his detailed presentation, and said they’ll take it under advisement.