PERU — The $1.25 million budget passed by voters this week mirrors last year’s, Select Board Chairwoman Raquel Welch said.
A big factor in no increase was using $250,000 from excise taxes and $200,000 from surplus to reduce the 2020-21 tax commitment, she said.
Despite a $44,000 increase in the Med-Care assessment, Welch said, “We were able to trim the budget enough in other areas to offset the increases we couldn’t control.”
Selectpersons and the Finance Committee agreed to recommend all but three articles.
“We worked really hard to come to a budget that we all could agree on,” Welch said.
Only three of the 38 articles did not passed. One prohibiting marijuana failed 200-259, and one regulating marijuana failed 214-243.
Welch said the town will likely revert to the state ordinance on marijuana.
Voters also rejected paying the Oxford County tax, 224-233, but Welch said the town is required to do so.
In elections, Selectperson Tammi Lyons and newcomer Jason Dolloff won three-year terms with 270 and 232 votes, respectively. Donald Roach had 164 votes. Carol Roach did not seek another term.
Road Commissioner Brad Hutchings received 251 votes for another three-year term. Challenger Matthew Dyer had 179.
Konstantin Aslanidi won another three-year term as Regional School Unit 56 director, and Joe Brissette won a one-year term.
Longtime Fire Chief William Hussey also won another three-year term.
Clerk/Treasurer Debra Coudrain said officials didn’t finish counting ballots until 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.