CHINA -- Selectmen set the 2008-09 property tax rate at $10.20 for each $1,000 of valuation on Tuesday.

In August, the town mailed out new valuations and estimated tax bills, with an assumed rate of $10.30 per $1,000, so the residents' actual bills will be slightly lower, Town Manager Daniel L'Heureux said.

The new rate, based on the townwide property revaluation, is a $5.50 per $1,000 reduction from the 2007-08 rate of $16.70.

Owners of a home valued at $100,000 that would have paid $1,670 last year would have paid $1,020 this year, except for the fact that their $100,000 valuation likely rose.

The revaluation redistributed the tax burden. The share paid by waterfront property owners increased because their properties appreciated more than nonwaterfront properties over the years since the last revaluation.

Town Manager Daniel L'Heureux said the main areas of increased spending are in the school budget and the county tax, not in municipal expenditures.

L'Heureux said he hopes to have tax bills in the mail by the end of the week. By town meeting vote, the first half payment is due Sept. 30.

The other main topic Tuesday evening was a local ballot for Nov. 4.

Selectmen approved five ballot questions, one conditionally, and intend to continue review of three more at their Sept. 15 meeting.

Questions approved to be put on the ballot will ask voters if they want to:

* appropriate up to $15,000 from surplus for a windmill at the town ball fields on Lakeview Drive;

* appropriate up to $10,000 from surplus to add to the general assistance fund;

* adopt an updated town comprehensive plan; and

* approve proposed amendments to the Land Development Code dealing with essential services and related definitions.

A request to approve a new regional school unit to consist of China and the four School Administrative District 47 towns -- Belgrade, Oakland, Rome and Sidney -- will be on the ballot.

Remaining questions to be considered Sept. 15 would ask voters to approve: a Wireless Telecommunications Ordinance to govern placement of cell towers in China; amendments to the Streets and Ways Ordinance to bring it into conformity with subdivision ordinance changes approved in June 2007; and discontinuance of a short section of Jones Road in South China.