No major changes were made to warrant articles during the annual deliberative session of Town Meeting on Saturday, Jan. 30, but there was discussion about an article that would fund two full-time emergency medical technicians.

Article 11 on the March 9 town ballot will ask voters to authorize use of $90,000 from an emergency ambulance fund to pay for two EMT positions, who would work Monday through Friday. For the past two years, more than 20 percent of the town’s emergency calls were handled by neighboring fire departments because Weare’s volunteer EMTs were not available.

“While we may not be in a crisis situation, we’re slowly approaching one,” Selectman Richard Butt said.

Officials say the article would have no impact on the tax rate and is recommended by the Finance Committee. The town would be reimbursed an estimated $80,000 when insurance providers pay the town for a patient’s use of an ambulance. The EMTs would be hired on a per diem basis and the town would not pay benefits.

“How much is a human life worth?” resident Marjorie Burke said before residents applauded. “What if you’re in an automobile accident or having a heart attack and you have to wait for an ambulance from Goffstown or Henniker?”

The town is also applying for a federal grant to help fund EMTs.

In other business, the town’s operating budget, Article 6, has been set for $4,711,254, which is $147,765 higher than the default budget. The Finance Committee did not recommend the budget, saying it calls for more than $200,000 in additional spending.

Selectmen say health care costs increased 27 percent and retirement costs have substantially gone up. In the past 13 years, voters have rejected town budget proposals 10 times, including last year.

“It tells us department heads that we need to spend every penny on our budget,” or else funding would be decreased the following year, said Police Chief Gregory Begin. “We are in dire need of a passed budget.”

Article 12, the police union contract, proposes a $13,918 increase, or 2 cents on the tax rate. The Finance Committee could not decide if it should be recommended. Selectmen say the article is needed to keep police overtime under control. The new agreement reduces the longstanding practice of triple time and a half on holidays and would save more th an $10,500 a year.