Epsom’s Board of Selectmen will remain at three seats for at least two more years after voters re-affirmed their 2007 vote to decrease the number of seats on the board.

In a 275-495 vote at this year’s election, Epsom voters decided they made the right decision last year to go to a three-member Board of Selectmen after concerns about bureaucracy and special interests on the fivemember board surfaced.

A citizen’s petition this year asked voters whether they were in favor of increasing the number of seats back to five.

Supporters of the petition argued a three-member board would only create a situation in which one member would always have the final say on an issue, and that a five-member board provides a broader variety of interpretations and perspectives.

“The town’s going to be happy that we did that,” said Selectman Joanne Randall, adding a three member board would be more productive.

Zoning Board Chairman Keith Cota joined current selectmen Bob Blodgett and Randall in the three open seats on the Board of Selectmen.

At a public hearing on the warrant article in February, many Epsom residents stood up to say the decision to go to three members was wrong.

Several said they now realize the 2007 vote was a“kneejerk” reaction, not a reasonable course of action, given the growing town population and mounting legal concerns, plus the absence of a town manager or town administrator.

Fed up with legal and procedural actions taken by the board and particularly by two of the members, Epsom residents decided to eliminate the chances for those two to be re-elected by decreasing the size of the board.

Epsom voters also decided again not to pass the proposed town operating budget, making it their fourth year in a row on a default budget. The Board of Selectmen will meet with department heads in the next few weeks, Randall said, to discuss how the default budget of $2,469,882 will be used. The default carries a tax increase of 28 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

In the town’s only contested race for three open Budget Committee seats, Marylou J. Lafleur-Keane, Carol McGuire and David Fiorention got the positions.

Voters rejected the school district’s budget as well. The $7,904,002 default budget will increase the tax rate by 88 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

At the school district deliberative sesson in February, Epsom Central Principal Patrick Connors said the district would likely have to resort to staff cuts if a default budget was implemented for the coming year.

The only school articles that did pass were the funds for a four-year collective bargaining agreement for school support staff and $78,069 to remove asbestos floor tiles from Epsom Central school, which together will add 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to the tax rate.