MEXICO — Selectmen decided Tuesday to meet with the Budget Committee next month to discuss the budget recently defeated by voters.

The meetings will be from 6 to 8 p.m. July 9 and 10

During the town’s secret ballot referendum on June 11, residents rejected all but two of the 17 warrant articles, including a $901,530 public safety budget.

As Tuesday’s meeting, Selectman George Byam suggested the town return to the previous year’s budget, as stated in the town’s referendum election ordinance.

According to Section 7 of the ordinance, “if a previously funded appropriation article is disapproved by a majority vote, the appropriations for the prior fiscal year would constitute the appropriation for the current fiscal year, as determined by the current Board of Selectmen.”

“So you’re saying that we would just accept the previous year’s budget to run the town instead of going over and redoing the budget?” Selectman Byron Ouellette asked Byam.

Byam nodded yes.

“I don’t think that’s what the townspeople want,” Ouellette said.

RSU 10 board member Betty Barrett agreed. “There’s some stuff that people said no to that you should take another look at,” she said.

Resident Albert Aniel, who drafted a recently approved tax cap ordinance that will cap the town’s operating cost at $2.73 million starting next year, said that adopting last year’s budget as the current year’s budget would be “insulting” to the voters who rejected the original budget.

“I understand you can go to the legal technicality, and go to the previous budget, but it’s not respecting what the vote was all about, and what the people decided,” he said. “Right now is the time to rehash the budget with the Budget Committee, so that when it comes to next year, when it’s going to be, according to Mr. Madigan, ‘doomsday,’ we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, and we can set ourselves up to implement a new plan.”

Later, Aniel added, “The selectmen and the town manager do not run the town. The citizens and the voters run the town, so you better do what the voters told you to do. If you don’t, I can predict dire consequences.”

Many residents suggested to the board that the town look into combining services with Rumford and other towns in the area. Town Manager John Madigan said Mexico selectmen met with the Rumford selectmen and an independent consultant a month ago to discuss sharing services.

“Everyone involved agreed that an outside, independent consultant was the best way to go, because of all the bias in the area,” Madigan said. “Recently, the two chairmen of the Mexico and Rumford boards, myself, and (Rumford Town Manager) Carlo Puiia had a conference call with the consultant, and he told us he’s now drafting a proposal.”

Madigan said they are considering what one police department or one fire department would look like for the River Valley towns.

Aniel said he was happy to hear that the towns were attempting to work together, but he believed that every service between the towns should be shared.

One resident said if the town were to approve the previous year’s budget, the selectmen “might see some recalls coming in” like those that occurred in Peru this year.

Resident Wesley Raynor said, “Each one of you guys are either going to be the problem, or the solution, and I’ll tell you right now, if I find someone else who will challenge you, someone who would rather be a part of the solution rather than the problem, I’ll give them my money to run against you.”

After nearly an hour and a half of discussion, the board voted 3-2 to meet with the Budget Committee, rather than adopting the previous year’s budget.

Following the two joint meetings there will be a public hearing on the new budget at 6 p.m. July 23, and a vote on the new budget July 30.

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