NEWRY — Town meeting voters approved a municipal budget of $834,262 on Monday night. That’s $2,621 more than last year’s $831,641.
This doesn’t include the school and county tax assessments, which are done later in the year.
“It went pretty good,” Town Administrator Loretta Powers said Tuesday of the 75-minute meeting with Les Otten as moderator, as usual.
Fifty-five registered voters attended.
“They approved all of the budget,” Powers said. “They didn’t really question a whole heck of a lot. It was a pretty smooth meeting, really.”
She said voters approved every article as written, except Article 23. For that, selectmen recommended raising and appropriating $600 for the Sunday River School House Reserve Account.
Voters instead amended it to add $400, and then agreed to raise and appropriate $1,000.
“Last year when we had replaced the roof and done all that stuff, we used all the reserve money, so they changed that from $600 to $1,000,” Powers said.
Planning Board Chairman Brooks Morton was elected from the floor to a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen. Morton received 27 votes to incumbent Jim Largess’s 25 votes. Largess was seeking a fourth straight term.
“It was kind of a last minute surprise,” Powers said of Morton’s bid.
Morton must now resign from the Planning Board and selectmen will appoint someone to fill his seat, and that of an alternate following a resignation two months ago.
Morton will join Selectmen Wendy Hanscom and Gary Wight on the board.
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