WILTON -- About nine months after Wilton residents began inundating the town with complaints about their new property valuations, the town has finally settled a contract dispute with the revaluation company over its final payment.

Selectmen voted 3-1 Tuesday to pay Tyler Assessment & Tax/ CLT Division $8,180. Selectman Terry Brann was opposed. The contract was drawn up by attorney Lee Bragg following numerous closed-door meetings to stave off a civil lawsuit.

Town officials would not comment on the settlement since the agreement states no one can discuss it other than saying, "The matter has been resolved."

Last fall, the board agreed to withhold the final payment to Tyler of $16,730 for the $167,000 town-wide assessment until officials were satisfied the job was done properly. Hundreds of complaints from property owners ranged from valuations people felt were too high to inaccurate data on real estate reports.

After Tyler's staff completed their work in September, Wilton's one-day-a-week assessor, James Jurdak, had to spend extra hours meeting with property owners and Town Manager Peter Nielsen said less than a dozen cases were referred to the Board of Assessment Review for final arbitration.

Nielsen at one time had estimated it would cost the town $10,800 to cover the cost of Jurdak's extra time.

"It cost us somewhat less than that in the end," Nielsen said Wednesday.

Selectmen this week also agreed to use any unexpended funds at the end of the fiscal year from the police, fire, recreation and highway departments to purchase a $9,369 radio system from Radio Communications in Portland.

Police Chief Dennis Brown said the town lacks a reliable radio system for departments to communicate with each other, with the Franklin County Dispatch Center and with neighboring towns and the county's emergency departments.

Officers on their portable radios also have problems reaching dispatchers.

Three radio communications companies submitted bids and Radio Communications offered the only system that incorporated all the radios used by the different departments. Brown and Fire Chief Sonny Dunham have also attended a grant-writing workshop, since federal funds are available only for regional communications systems. For now, Brown said 12 handheld radios have been donated to the town by the Bedford, Mass., police department.

In other matters, Highway Foreman John Welch presented his recommendation on the purchase of three plow trucks for $379,000 that would be decided by voters at the June 16 annual town meeting.

Under a lease/purchase plan with Whitehead Ford of Bangor, the cost would be split over three years. Selectmen also approved the purchase of a Prestige energy-efficient propane boiler for the public safety building for $16,200 from Northern Woods Energy LLC of Farmington.

Betty Jespersen -- 778-6991

bjespersen@centralmaine.com