BY ROD HANSEN

Topics ranging from the local tennis courts to expansion of the town’s EMS services were among the items stretching the deliberative session of Town Meeting to eight hours long Saturday, Feb. 3.

The subject of finance committee recommendations sparked an hour-long debate before voters considered the first warrant article.

Town ordinance sets the number of members of the finance committee at 13, meaning at least seven members must vote on any subject to constitute a quorum.

However, many finance committee recommendations for this year’s warrant articles fell short of that number, with only six voting members offering an opinion.

Finance committee member Matt Esenwine requested that voters still be allowed to consider committee recommendations.

“We’re certainly not the only organization in town that’s supposed to have a certain amount of members but has less than that,” Esenwine said.

“A majority of full membership is required to recommend or not recommend an article … at this time, we can’t make official recommendations,” he said.

Neal Kurk, a state representative and former town moderator, moved that finance committee recommendations still be mailed to residents as usual.

“I’m concerned we won’t have recommendations from a different source (besides selectmen). The question is, do we want something or do we want nothing?” Kurk said.

Resident Forrest Esenwine spoke in favor of letting the finance committee make advisory recommendations.

“There’s no one else in town who’s looked at the (warrant) proposals besides the people on the finance committee,” said Forrest Esenwine.

“I would like to see them give their input today and send out their (recommendations) with a disclaimer that these aren’t official, there’s really no reality to it at all, but these people met and this is what they recommend,” he said.

Kurk’s motion passed by a voice vote, and Matt Esenwine provided finance committee’s unofficial recommendations throughout the meeting.

The town’s $4.3 million operating budget was the first warrant article considered at the session. The default budget had been reduced by $44,000, which accounted for a 3.5 percent pay raise for town employees, said board of selectmen Chairman Heleen Kurk.

Town employees could still receive their raises if the town operates on a default budget, but other items would have to be sacrificed in that event, she said.

Residents voted unanimously to put the proposed operating budget on the ballot without amendment. That item is expected to account for $2.08 of the town’s portion of the tax rate.

An article requesting $330,334 for various capital reserve funds came under fire due to questions about a parks and recreation line. Some residents questioned whether $6,000 in a recreation field and development fund could be used for tennis court repair, when a separate account existed solely for tennis court resurfacing.

Planning board Chairman Paul Morin said the development fund was the appropriate account for tennis court repair, because the tennis court resurfacing fund was intended solely for that purpose.

The capital reserve fund article passed without amendment, after proposals to increase the recreation line item to $17,000 and to eliminate it entirely both failed.

An article to establish a revolving fund for fee-based recycling items at the transfer station was also approved to appear on the March warrant.

The item would allow the transfer station to spend money collected for the disposal of items such as dehumidifiers, refrigerators and air conditioners for the purpose of removing those objects, said Department of Public Works director Carl Knapp. There is currently a $7 fee for disposing such items at the transfer station.

The article would reduce the transfer station operating budget by $39,000 which is roughly the amount it costs to remove such items annually, said Knapp.

Two articles not recommended by the board of selectmen were both approved to appear on the town warrant.

The first requested $52,000 to hire an additional police officer. That item came with a projected 6-cent impact on the tax rate. Resident John Lawton proposed an amendment to reduce the article’s dollar value to $0.00

“Everybody says an item will have only a five-cent (or) six-cent impact on the taxes, but what we’re doing here is setting next year’s tax rate. We have to be realistic about what we’re asking people to pay,” Lawton said.

The proposed amendment failed, and the request for an additional police officer will appear before voters in March with its original dollar value.

An article adding two per-diem EMTs to staff the ambulance eight hours a day, seven days a week, will also appear on the town warrant. That article seeks $49,850 to fund the positions beginning July 1, with future funding to be included in the operating budget.

If all tax articles with dollar values pass, selectman Tom Clow said this will bring the town portion of the tax rate to $3.10, or a 12.3 percent increase over last year’s town portion of the tax rate, which totaled $2.76.

However, he said voter acceptance of only the selectmen-approved articles would result in a tax rate of $2.98, factoring in veteran’s tax credits and money due in tax abatements. This reflects an 8 percent increase in the town portion of the tax rate, Clow said.

Voting on the town warrant is scheduled for Tuesday, March 13, at Center Woods Elementary School from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.