29 warrants take more than 4 hours
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – Prolonged debate amongst town officials and residents at Saturday’s annual town meeting on nearly every topic of a 29-article warrant lasted four-and-a-half hours.

By meeting’s end at 2:30 p.m., a third of the meeting’s 100 voters remaining had agreed to raise $1,600,412 as the town’s 2003-04 municipal budget.

Exasperated over the day’s onerous discussions, Selectmen Chairman Hugh Daley declined to comment about the day’s proceedings. However, Selectman Eugene Skibitsky, who is seeking re-election to another three-year term in municipal elections on Tuesday, June 10, was more talkative.

“It was a good public discussion, and I’m glad all of it was aired out,” he said.

Lengthy convoluted motions and amendments amidst long debates at times exasperated moderator Sen. Norman Ferguson of Hanover.

At one point, after voters stumbled for nearly 60 minutes over Article 5’s Executive Department budget of $185,000, before approving it, Ferguson said, “Lord almighty,” eliciting laughter from nearly everyone.

Despite agreeing to raise a $1.6 million budget, voters, in an attempt to force town departments to stay within their budgets and gain more control over how officials spend town money, shot down warrant Article 22. It sought to accept the $1.6 million as the town’s 2003-04 gross operating or bottom line budget.

Voters also agreed to borrow $45,000 on a 5-year note as Dixfield’s share of a proposed $90,000 expansion of the East Dixfield Fire Department station.

At a special town meeting in April, Wilton voters approved taking $45,000 from surplus to cover their half. The East Dixfield station is a substation of both towns.

During a 60-minute discussion, several residents objected to the selectmen’s decision in March to reduce the town’s four-person full-time police force to a full-time three-person department.

As a result, the police force reverted back to a four-person department when, by secret ballot, voters approved the Finance Committee’s recommendation of a four-person department with an operating budget of $165,702.

Amendments added $2,500 for the police department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education program and $1,500 toward a grant to purchase two laptop computers for police cruisers. Both the Finance Committee and selectmen had cut the two items from their budget recommendations.

Voters also agreed to borrow up to $70,000 on a five-year note to buy a plow truck for the Public Works Department and raise the remaining $3,201 of $17,000 to purchase a Bicentennial Clock replica for the town’s 200th birthday later this month.

Voters tightened the town’s spending belt on some articles, opting to raise $32,700 for the Grounds Department instead of the recommended $35,200; denying money to the River Valley Riders All-Terrain Vehicle Club, which had requested $5,000 and other special interest groups.

Out of a requested $25,193 for social services, voters raised $12,437. Failure to send a representative to explain what Community Concepts does in town caused voters to approve raising no money instead of the requested $5,178.

“I’m very disappointed that they didn’t send a representative because we’ve supported them in the past,” said Daley.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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