TURNER – Voters at Saturday’s annual town meeting cut by one-quarter the money they are willing spend on a new municipal office building, struck down a proposed zoning ordinance amendment, and scheduled a special runoff election to decide two Budget Committee seats.

The meeting ran more than five hours, and attendance dropped from 130 at the start to fewer than 60 as the day wore on. In all, 52 warrant articles were approved to provide more than $2.5 million in municipal funding for the year.

How to fund the new town office building chewed up nearly half the meeting. Jeff Timberlake, chairman of the Town Hall Building Committee, said he believed the proposed project cost of $748,849 was too high. He favored reducing it by almost $174,000 and getting additional proposals from area contractors.

Others, such as Budget Committee Chairman Kurt Youland and Selectman Dennis Richardson, said they shared Timberlake’s opinion but bristled at his timing. Richardson apologized to the gallery for the last-minute budget wrangling “on the floor of town meeting when there was plenty of time to do it beforehand during subcommittee.”

“We are getting an awful cheap building for an awful lot of money,” Youland said. For a building that should cost about $85 per square foot, he said, under the current plan “we’re talking about $175 per square foot.”

When Timberlake tried to present his calculations, however, the numbers didn’t add up.

Widespread mathematical confusion only compounded the issue, as none of the three boards – budget, selectmen or building committee – could agree on how Timberlake arrived at his figures. Neither could they come to a consensus on how much the voters would be asked to approve if Timberlake’s revision were approved.

Moderator Ira “Ike” Goodwin Jr. eventually called a 10-minute recess so the board members could reconcile the figures. Voters eventually passed the article as amended, reducing the project’s price tag to $575,000. Goodwin said the town will have to find out if the building it wants can be built for what it has decided to pay.

“If not, they’ll have to come back here and ask for more money,” he said.

In other business, voters rejected a proposed change to the town’s subdivision ordinance that would have allowed residents to impose easements for recreational use on their land. The amendment failed because nobody knew for sure what would happen to the easements, or who would hold the rights to them, if the land were sold for development.

A special runoff election is scheduled for Wednesday, April 11, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the town office to determine the winners of a three-way race for two open Budget Committee seats.

Only 212 people, or about 4 percent of the town’s registered voters, cast ballots in Friday’s municipal election, according to Town Clerk Eva Leavitt. Youland and Michael Arsenault both retained three-year seats on the Budget Committee. But Eric Breidenstein, Harry Ricker, Linwood Gilbert and Greg Gilbert Sr. all received the same number of write-in votes for two uncontested seats.

One is a three-year seat; the other is for one year. Linwood Gilbert has since withdrawn his candidacy, but the others remain in the race.

Also Friday, Richardson retained his seat on the Board of Selectmen, defeating challenger Paul Bernard. Angelo Terrari also was elected to the board, defeating incumbent Henry Gibbert.

Harris Bredeen, who was not challenged, retained his seat on the Board of Directors for SAD No. 52.