LIVERMORE — Townspeople voted Wednesday to remove the state-funded veterans property tax reimbursement from a list of accounts to lower the tax commitment.

The estimated $1,750 reimbursement from the state was voted to be dedicated to the cost  of a survey of the town’s Memorial Forest off Poland Road.

Town administrative assistant Kurt Schaub said the survey is estimated to cost $2,800.

As voters moved through the annual town meeting warrant, the Budget Committee’s recommendations, which were lower than the Board of Selectpersons, mostly were prevailing half-way through the meeting.

Voters rejected two amendments to the sum of money the town would raise and appropriate for office staff and administration. Instead, they accepted the Budget Committee’s recommendation of $123,287, $6,441 less than the selectperson’s recommendation.

The amendments made by Selectperson John Wakefield would have given the seven employees covered under that budget a 3 percent cost-of-living raise and added $4,580 for a treasurer’s position.

Wakefield said the board uses a couple measures to make sure they are paying employees a fair wage. He said recent hires usually are  paid 10 percent to 15 percent less until a probation period passes.

Wakefield also said the treasurer’s position was figured at 284 hours a year at $15 per hour.

The treasurer’s position was combined with the administrative assistant position several years ago.

Cathy Lee was elected as the new treasurer Tuesday over Schaub, who held the position for more than a decade.

“I don’t support it,” Lee said of the extra money being added.
She said the money should be deducted from Schaub’s wage as administrative assistant/treasurer since he no longer would hold those two positions.

Voters did approve the selectperson’s recommendation $288,338 for the highway maintenance over the Budget Committee’s recommendation of $284,050. The difference between the two were wages.

Selectpersons included 3 percent wage increases for all employees, and a couple of wage adjustments. The Budget Committee voted to give no raises this year. It appeared during voting that some would get raises while others would not.

The board proposed a $1.25 million budget while the Budget Committee proposed a spending plan of nearly $1.22 million for 2012-13, which is $30,371 less than the selectpersons’ proposal.

Voters were on Article 30 of 55 at 8:45 p.m. Wednesday.

The Budget Committee’s plan represents an increase of $23,269 over the current budget, while the select board’s plan reflected nearly a $60,000 increase. The Budget Committee’s proposal was to keep the budget under the state tax levy limit.

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