RUMFORD — Voters OK’d a $7.4 million municipal budget Tuesday.
A majority approved every town meeting warrant article, including allowing personal use of fireworks, but requiring retail outlets to be permitted by the town. The fireworks tally was 648-397.
Last summer, Maine repealed the fireworks ban and allowed municipalities to propose their own ordinances for fireworks.
Official results from hand-count tallies of ballots were completed by about mid-afternoon on Wednesday at the municipal building.
The $7,420,500 budget is $571,292 more than last year’s spending of $6,849,208. It doesn’t include the county and school assessments.
“I’m pleased that, you know, the citizens want to keep their services,” Carlo Puiia, town manager, said Wednesday afternoon after learning that all articles were approved.
Whether or not that satisfaction continues remains to be seen, he said.
“We know the school budget’s going to see an increase and depending on valuation, we’ll see where that all lands, but for this current year, they still want to get their services, and that’s important,” Puiia said.
“People say public service is important to everybody, not just those that are serving on the boards. Obviously the citizens see that.”
Puiia said he hasn’t analyzed the balloting tallies yet to see if there’s any shift from last year.
“Normally, it’s a 70/30 split,” he said.
In all but one article, voters went with the lesser amounts when selectmen and the Finance Committee differed with recommendations.
Article 46 asked if voters would raise and appropriate funding for the Western Maine Veterans Advisory Committee, which sought $175.
By a 760-218 tally, voters agreed to fund the committee. In the same article, those who voted yes were asked which amount they wanted to raise. Selectmen recommended $400; the Finance Committee, $175. The selectmen’s recommendation won, 383-274.
In Articles 10 (Public Safety) and 12 (Fire Department), voters went with Finance Committee recommendations, reducing the budget by $3,000.
The committee in Article 10 recommended $1,000 less than selectmen for emergency management. Residents approved doing that, voting 527-327. There were 244 votes for neither recommended amount.
For the Fire Department budget, 475 voters chose the committee’s recommendation of $722,069, while 363 voters went with the selectmen recommendation of $724,069. There were 260 votes for neither recommendation.
Of all the articles, only a few were approved by less than a 100-vote margin. These closer votes came in the Social Services requests for initiated articles:
* Article 25 sought $51,000 for Black Mountain of Maine. It was approved 585-509.
* Article 32 sought $1,500 for Holy Savior School — testing. It was OK’d 585-487.
* Article 38 sought $12,000 for the River Valley Growth Council. It was OK’d 574-490.
* Article 31 sought $2,500 for Holy Savior School — books. It was approved 580-491.
* Article 33 sought $550 for Holy Savior School — health services. It was OK’d 585-487.
Voters also want a Charter commission established to either revise the Charter or establish a new Charter. That was approved 617-410.
In the only non-binding advisory referendum, 566 voters said they would support connecting Lincoln Avenue to Swain Road in the area west of the bridge that washed out last August from Tropical Storm Irene.
The Lincoln Avenue extension of 930 feet would provide another access to Swain Road. Four hundred seventy-nine voters said they didn’t want the extension.
Official results of municipal elections are as follows: Greg Buccina won re-election with 673 votes, while challengers Kevin Saisi had 227 votes and Mary E. McPherson had 186 votes.
For tax collector/constable, Tom Bourret won it with 813 votes. Challengers Jeremy Vashaw had 110 votes, Cindy Kelley had 93 votes, Amy Bernard had 59 votes, and Kim Cocca had 39 votes.
In the uncontested races, former selectman Jim Rinaldo, a write-in, won the Board of Assessors seat with 15 votes; Beth Bellegarde won re-election as town clerk with 1,024 votes; and Martha Chaisson won re-election as an RSU 10 school board director with 1,017 votes.
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