Sometimes, the small things count for a lot.

The Town Council learned that lesson the hard way recently when its decision to buy a laptop for each of the seven members and redecorate their meeting room provoked charges of frivolous spending in a time of economic belt-tightening.

“I was really disappointed that the majority bought into both of these things, to be honest with you,” said Roy Stewart, president of the Bedford Taxpayers Association. “They just went off the reservation, that’s for damn sure.”

The laptops could cost as much as $10,612 total, including software licenses. The remodeling of the meeting room, which is used by every town-related board and committee in Bedford, is estimated at $15,000. Since the room is located in the Bedford cable television studio, known as BCTV, the town can use revenue from fees paid by Comcast customers, instead of tax dollars, for the work.

Most of the councilors who voted in favor of the expenditures had been endorsed by the taxpayers association, adding insult to injury.

In the past, the association has backed councilors Bill Dermody, Mike Izbicki, Normand Longval, Paul Roy and Bob Young for election. All of them voted for at least one of the expenditures at the council’s Wednesday, July 16, meeting. Roy dissented on the laptops, while Izbicki, the chairman, opposed the renovation.

Roy said he could not support the purchase given the slumping economy. But several councilors said the laptops were necessary so they would not have to discuss town business via e-mail from their personal computers.

Izbicki said someone could ask to see that information under the Right to Know law, even if it is on his personal computer. Having a laptop for council business would prevent his computer from being taken, protecting private information that has nothing to do with town government, Izbicki said.

At some point, he said the computers actually will save money by eliminating the time spent on preparing and printing the packets of documents for meetings, which a town employee drops off at each town councilor’s home the Friday before a meeting.

As for the renovation, Town Manager Russ Marcoux said the meeting room at BCTV would be repainted, while the doors behind the council would be blended in with the rest of the room. The wall would be lined with a chair rail and the photographs would be framed in boxes. Also, the town seal would be on display and the table used by the council and other boards would be expanded to accommodate more seats.

“I strongly feel that it is important that we address the room so that it represents what the town of Bedford is about,” Marcoux told the council.

Stewart said simply because the money is available in the cable fund does not mean the council has to spend it. Dermody, a councilor who has been an advocate for property tax relief, noted that he would not have voted for the renovation if it involved tax money.

Dermody said he did not think the proposed renovation is extravagant, but said he could understand if someone has an objection.

Izbicki thought the timing was inappropriate.

“I think BCTV needs to be rehabbed eventually,” he said. “Right now is not the right time.”

Stewart said the town is too concerned with the appearance of the room.

“They’re trying to put on airs,” he said. “There are certainly lots of ordinary people in Bedford who don’t care if the room looks like a professional boardroom.”

Ryk Bullock, the town moderator, questioned the need for the renovation. He said in these economic times, the town should focus on what it needs.

“I would prefer to see money spent on the potentiality of need, not want,” Bullock said, adding that he is expressing his personal opinion as a resident. Given the concerns over the Right to Know law, he said he could better understand the need to purchase the laptops.