CANTON — Voters approved a $589,061 municipal budget at Saturday’s annual town meeting at the Fire Station, according to Administrative Assistant Harry Childs.
Originally, the Board of Selectmen had recommended $574,261 for the total municipal budget, while the Budget Committee had recommended $576,361. However, townspeople voted to amend several of the warrant articles, which raised the selectmen’s budget by $14,800.
Childs said the voters amended Article 9, which asked if the town wished to raise or appropriate $52,700 for general government and compensation.
“One resident made a motion to reduce that number to $47,294, but that was defeated,” Childs said. “Someone else made a motion to add $5,000 to the administrative assistant position. It ended up passing, which raised the total for that article to $57,700.”
Childs, who acts as the town’s administrative assistant, said he argued against the raise at the town meeting.
“I don’t do this job for the money,” Childs said. “It’s nice that the townspeople did that and saw it that way, but I was against it.”
The town voted to close the former municipal building and put it up for bid sometime in the upcoming year, which would save the town about $6,000 a year, Childs said.
Voters rejected an article that would have asked the town to raise $150,000 to do a variety of paving projects on the town roads.
According to Childs, the town felt a more comprehensive plan and a better study of the roads was needed before raising the money.
“The engineer who looked into our roads said that we have a lot of sewer and water lines underneath to deal with,” Childs said.
Townspeople also voted to discontinue Cross Street after the town determined it to be unsafe.
“There’s no town property on the street, and the town felt that the bridge on the street was unfit for travel,” Childs said. “It’s already been closed off for awhile but, by discontinuing, we don’t need to plow it or maintain it.”
Cross Street connects Pleasant Street to School Street and is north of the Victorian Villa Rehabilitation Center.
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