Salisbury Board of Selectmen prepare for upcoming revaluation

SALISBURY — The Board of Selectmen welcomed in the new year Monday, Jan. 6, by going over a list of issues likely to come up.

First Selectman Curtis Rand said budget season is underway, with town department heads and nonprofit organizations starting to submit their funding requests for the fiscal year of 2025-26.

Rand reminded Selectmen Chris Williams and Kitty Kiefer, and the general public, that 2025 is a revaluation year.

He noted that real estate prices have gone up considerably since the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’ll see how that affects us and how we keep Salisbury affordable.”

“Just because the values go up doesn’t mean taxes will go up,” he added.

On solid waste, Rand was not sanguine. He said that the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority is wrapping up its activities as of July 1 of this year, two years ahead of the original schedule.

How this affects towns like Salisbury and Sharon, who share a transfer station, is unclear.

“Whatever the solution, we’ll be paying for single stream recycling,” Rand said, noting that right now the towns pay nothing for it.

Rand said this past year the budget for invasive controls — primarily hydrilla — on the Twin Lakes was double what was originally envisioned. “There’s going to be a lot of pressure” for lake management in the upcoming budget.

All the selectmen agreed to keep asking the state Department of Transportation for help curtailing speeding in town.