Canton Planning Board member Diane Ray hands out information Thursday during the selectmen’s meeting in the Town Office regarding a building project on 95 Staples Hill Road that she and her husband Richard have submitted a preapplication to for subdivision housing. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

CANTON — The town will see an increase of $3,375 for its share of the Med-Care Ambulance 2025-26 budget, said Rob Walker, the town’s Med-Care Ambulance representative during Thursday’s Select Board meeting at the Town Office.

Walker said that the budget includes a $3 subsidy increase per capita, which means that the town of Canton will pay $48,375 in 2025, up from $45,000 for its share this year.

“The bulk of the increase is with (staff) wages, which is happening everywhere. They’re having a hard time keeping staff, and part of it was also insurance, which goes up every year,” Walker said.

Another part of the ambulance service’s increase is due to the state’s adoption of the Family and Medical Leave Act, he said. The FMLA “provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor website.

In other business, the Select Board approved spending $11,700 to restore and digitize the town’s second book of vital records and to use monies available from the town’s general government fund to pay for the restoration.

Selectwoman Carole Robbins told the selectmen that Northeast Document Conservation Center in Augusta, which digitized and restored the first and third of the town’s records books previously, will do the same for the second book in the series.

“We’ve had (books) one and three done. There’s a couple more upstairs (in the town office building) that aren’t necessarily as bad (damaged) or as significant as these first three were,” Robbins said.

The town’s first book of vital records runs from the years 1821 to 1839, starting with the year the town was incorporated.

In another vote, the selectmen approved spending $16,576 for an insulated electronic town sign from NeoKraft Signs Inc. of Lewiston and decided that the money to pay for the sign will come from the town’s American Rescue Plan Act federal funds.

According to Chairperson Brian Keene, the 6-by-2-foot double-sided sign will be 9 millimeters thick and will hang below the general town sign by the Town Office at 94 Turner St.

In another matter, Planning Board member Diane Ray shared that she and her husband, Richard, have submitted a preapplication to develop 95 Staples Hill Road for eight-unit apartments or another type of building structure.

Ray said that misinformation has been circulating on Facebook that they have been using federal money for the repairs on the barn on the Staples Hill property. “I want to make sure that it’s crystal clear we have nothing except for personal finances going into that barn,” Ray said.

She told the residents at the selectmen’s meeting that the town of Canton, as part of its Comprehensive Plan, has been “looking at what they call affordable housing and affordable housing is defined by all the lenders as (you can) afford this (home) with 30% of your income.”

Seeking to create affordable housing in the area, the Rays are researching state and federal programs that could support affordable housing for their building project.

One program they are considering, MaineHousing, currently has no application openings and additional funding this year has not been solidified, Ray said.

If the Rays’ preapplication for the project is approved, they will then submit a preliminary application with detailed plans according to the town’s subdivision ordinance requirements and a public hearing would be held, according to Ray.

Also, the selectmen decided the town’s holiday tree lighting celebration will be held Dec. 1 at 5:30 p.m. The tree is located in town at the intersection of Route 140 and Route 108. Selectwoman Michelle Larrivee said she will begin “looking up some Christmas carols and printing out music for everybody,” and snacks and drinks will be provided.