Think taxes are too high? Want the town to add another firefighter or cut back somewhere else? Or do you simply want an opportunity to exercise your citizenship outside of the voting booth?

The Budgetary Town Meeting at the Bedford High School auditorium at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 5, is the place to have your say on all of the above.

The Town Council is proposing $23,638,835 in appropriations for next year, but slightly less than $21.4 million of that amount is for the general town operating budget. The rest is for self-funding operations, such as police details and community cable television, which do not directly affect the tax rate.

If the budget is approved by voters at the meeting, the tax rate will increase by 25 cents to an estimated $3.92 per $1,000 in assessed property value. Under the new rate, an owner of a home assessed at $300,000 would be paying $1,176 in taxes to run the town, not including what is due to the school district, the county or the state.

The 25-cent rise includes the following: 5 cents to fund a full year of new Police Department positions added during 2007; 3 cents for additional police staff in 2008; 8 cents for a 53nd payroll week; 4 cents for fund balance reserves; and 5 cents for a general increase in the operating budget.

The new positions at the Police Department were recommended by Municipal Resources Inc., an outside consultant.

The council has been steadily implementing several changes the MRI studies had identified for both the police and fire departments.

In 2007, the town phased in dispatcher and lieutenant positions in the Police Department, with enough funding for half a year. Those new positions now have to be funded for a full year. A new dispatcher and records clerk, detective and lieutenant positions are envisioned for 2008.

They too will be hired halfway through the year.

The extra week of payroll, according to Town Manager Russ Marcoux, is a scheduling anomaly that happens once every six years. Marcoux has suggested that the town create a special savings account, depositing one-sixth of the full amount annually, to avoid a future spike.

The fund balance reserves, according to Marcoux, help the town get lower interest rates for its bonds. Accounting standards say the town should have an amount equal to 8 to 12 percent of its operating budget in the fund balance reserve, which Marcoux compares to the “Rainy Day Fund” maintained by the state for emergencies. The budget for 2008 would bring the fund balance up to 7.24 percent.

At the March 5 meeting, voters will have a chance to make changes to the budget.

The election of officers and approval of bonds will be determined at the election, which is Tuesday, March 11, at Bedford High School, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

More information on the town budget is posted online at www.bedfordnh.org.