Dresden residents vote on an article during the annual town meeting at Dresden Elementary School on Tuesday, June 20. (Meira Bienstock photo)
About 50 Dresden voters approved all 27 articles at the two-hour annual town meeting on Tuesday, June 20.
The approved municipal budget totals $3,879,757.60, an increase of $453,814.32 or 12.24%. Contributing to the change were increases in the salaries, protection accounts, and capital project budgets.
The salaries and wages line totals $269,860, an increase of $39,285 or 17.04%. Town Administrator Daniel Swain said the town will cover 80% of health insurance for three town office staff members, which contributed to the jump.
The protection budget, which includes funding for the Dresden Fire Department as well as the town’s contract for ambulance services, totals $116,537, an increase of $24,277 or 26.31%.
Most of the meeting’s discussion centered on Article 8, which would have authorized the select board to conduct negotiations with a property owner for the purchase of any property or parcel of land, if the board deemed it would be in the best interest of the town to acquire. Residents amended the article to include a specification that no purchase would be made without a vote of the town.
Dresden Planning Board Chair Jeffrey Pierce said any purchase over $10,000 would require a special town meeting anyway.
Another conversation resulted in an increase of funds for the cemetery accounts after a volunteer spoke about volunteers’ struggles to complete necessary maintenance. Residents approved $12,000 for cemetery accounts, an increase of $4,250 or 54.83%.
Residents also amended an article to charge an interest rate of 6% for property taxes as opposed to the 8% that appeared on the warrant.
At the polls on June 13, Lisa Hewitt was elected to a three-year term on the Dresden Select Board. Allan Moeller did not seek reelection.
Voters elected Steven Hewitt and Shirley Storkson to the budget committee.
(LCN Editor Maia Zewert contributed to this article.)
From left: Dresden Select Board members John Rzasa, Donald Gleason Jr., and Allan Moeller vote on an article during the annual town meeting at Dresden Elementary School on Tuesday, June 20. (Meira Bienstock photo)
