OTISFIELD – Voters approved an operating town budget of $1,263,682 at the annual town meeting Saturday.

Mark Cyr was re-elected selectman and chairman of the board for three years, and Richard E. Bean Sr. was re-elected road commissioner for the next year. Joe Vaillancourt was elected for a three-year term as SAD 17 director.

Cyr said the meeting attracted 120 people and lasted an hour and 40 minutes. He said there was positive feedback from moderator Frank Blauvelt and residents about the condensed warrant, which grouped budgets together to reduce the amount of articles to 25.

“It went extremely smoothly,” Cyr said.

The operational budget increased 1 percent from last year, and the tax rate increased from $10.50 per $1,000 to $10.86 per $1,000, he said.

Voters authorized selectmen to enter into a 10-year lease/purchase agreement for a new pumper truck for the Fire Department, up to $216,750. Of that, $170,000 will be principal and $46,750 interest.

The first lease payment will be $26,000, funded by $15,000 in surplus funds and $11,000 in tax revenue for the 2008 fiscal year.

The town accepted ownership and management of the South Otisfield Cemetery on Powhatan Road.

Residents also appropriated $32,209 for debt and interest. Of those funds, $13,242 will go toward the final payment on a jobs bond and $19,067 will go toward the fifth payment on a 10-year lease of a fire engine.

Recommendations of selectmen and finance committee members only differed on a lakes preservation fund. The finance committee did not agree with the selectmen’s recommendation of $4,000 for protection against milfoil, offering instead a $5,000 budget exclusively for the Thompson Lake Environmental Association’s Youth Conservation Corps. The article passed with the selectmen’s recommendation for a total budget of $9,000.