NEW VINEYARD – Residents elected Sandra Howard to fill the unexpired term of her late husband, Jerry, during the annual town meeting Saturday.

Jerry Howard died two days before Christmas and a year before his selectman term ended. Howard was nominated from the floor and won in a landslide with 40 votes, according to Town Clerk Arlene Davis.

Howard defeated Scott Webber and Leonard Ellis, who garnered 11 and 6 votes, respectively, Davis said Saturday.

State Rep. Tom Saviello, I-Wilton, presented Howard with a legislative sentiment recalling her husband’s service to the town, Davis said.

In the contest for a three-year term on the board of selectmen, incumbent Lowell Dubay Jr. defeated Ellis by a vote of 32-19.

Planning board members Adrienna Rollo and Wayne Drake were unopposed for two-year terms on the board. Associate member Patricia Knapp was re-elected to a 3-year term.

Davis said about 75 town meeting voters approved a municipal budget of $138,179, an increase of about $5,600 over 2005. The meeting lasted just over two hours, she said.

“We scurried through (the warrant). There was not much debate,” Davis said.

Voters increased spending for reconstruction of Barker Road by $10,000, to $30,000, and also approved a waiver for Drake Daniels under the town’s resource protection ordinance to allow Daniels to eventually build a home on his land.

Roger Lambert moderated the annual town meeting.