The approval of the town’s $23,762,177 operating budget also provided a boost to future Conservation Commission efforts.

Bedford Town Meeting ended with all budget items passing, and giving the commission $123,342 and bringing its budget to $481,377 for conservation projects. The increase accounted for additional revenue the commission received from interest and current-use fees, said Town Councilor Bob Young, who made the motion.

If the money was not budgeted, the commission would not be able to spend it, Young said, and the the new amount has no impact on the tax rate.

The meeting, which was attended by well over 100 people at the high school theater, zipped through the rest of the town budget in about 20 minutes.

But once the official business was over, Town Moderator Eugene Van Loan opened the floor up to a debate over the two road bonds which would on the March 11 ballot.

The bond backed by the Town Council called for $8 million – $3 million for improvments to the Route 101/Nashua Roads intersection and about $5 million for town road work.

A $12 million bond proposed by citizen petition would spend money only on town roads, continuing the road program at its pace of $4 million a year for rehabilitation, with $1 million coming out of the operating budget for maintenance.

Joleen Worden, a critic of the petitioned article, said the $8 million bond would provide funding for the road program for another year.

“If the $8 million bond is passed there will be an equal amount of money for the year 2009,” Worden said.

At the meeting, one resident asked the Town Council what recourse it has against developers who built substandard roads.

Councilor Michael Scanlon said the town is responsible for roads once they’re accepted as town roads. But, he said, the town inspection process of those roads have improved.

“If they don’t do it right, we don’t take it,” Scanlon said.

He added that most of the road problems facing the town were due to neglect and a lack of maintenance, not poor construction.

Several people questioned whether the town should reassess its road rehabilitation and maintenance program, now in its fifth year. Scanlon said town officials had already thoroughly studied the program at its inception.

“The time for reconstruction began six years ago,” Scanlon said. “The time for study is over.”

Jonathan Zdziarski, who lost his bid for a seat on the School Board March 11, said although roads have improved significantly, there is room for improvement. He said national standards set the lifetime of a road at 30 to 40 years before it needs construction, whereas in Bedford the timeframe is closer to 15 years.

Zdziarski said the town should also review how it maintains roads, suggesting that cracks and other defects should be repaired before they become visible to inspectors.

Scanlon said Public Works Director Jim Stanford would listen to someone who told the town about a better way to manage its roads.

Scanlon later said voters had the option of approving both the $8 million and $12 million bonds. Roy Stewart, president of the Bedford Taxpayers Association, said doing two bonds at once would be “absolutely ridiculous.”

After the assembly, when as much time was spent debating and discussing the bonds as it had on the town budget, Van Loan brought the meeting to an

end.