RUMFORD — The Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee will meet on Tuesday, Oct. 15, the fifth time in several months, to discuss new recommendations for the municipal budget, though the agenda will be a bit lighter this time.
Selectmen will meet at 5 p.m., followed by the Finance Committee at 5:30 p.m., to discuss new recommendations for the unclassified account budget, which was defeated Tuesday in a 478-478 tie.
The other seven municipal budget articles were approved on the same ballot.
Town Manager Carlo Puiia said that the town was unable to break the tie, even after several recounts.
“When a municipal budget article ends in a tie, it’s considered defeated,” Puiia said Wednesday afternoon. “The selectmen and the Finance Committee will have to return to the drawing board and figure out new recommendations.”
The unclassified accounts include money for workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, health insurance, liability insurance and contributions for Social Security/FICA.
The budget meetings on Oct. 15 will be followed by a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, to discuss the unclassified account vote. The vote is scheduled for Nov. 5.
Voters initially turned down all 12 money articles on June 11, which totaled $7.5 million. Selectmen cut $1 million from the next budget, which was presented July 23. The Finance Committee reduced the proposed budget to $7.2 million.
At the July referendum, eight of the 12 budget articles were rejected. Passed were funds for health and sanitation, the Rumford Public Library, public service and debt service.
In a third referendum Aug. 27, voters again shot down the eight remaining budget articles.
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