RANGELEY – Voters approved $3.8 million in spending Thursday to cover municipal operations, Town Manager Perry Ellsworth said Friday.

The meeting lasted 2 hours, and 111 residents attended, he said.

In addition to the $3.58 million budget residents approved Thursday, voters passed another article to raise and appropriate a 50-cent increase per $1,000 of property valuation, which equals about $250,000 of tax, for capital road projects, Ellsworth said.

“This would bring our total appropriations for the municipal operations to $3,833,432 or $407,556 more than last year,” he said.

This additional $250,000 will be used for complete rebuilding of roads versus patch jobs, he said. Ellsworth said he will arrange a workshop to discuss the future road plans and develop an in-depth five-year plan.

The town reserve accounts were presented with a deduction of the police reserve amount of $10,000, Ellsworth said.

“This created a lot of conversation pertaining to the police department and whether or not we needed one,” he said. “Both pros and cons were discussed, but the article failed to pass and after another amended proposal to the recommendation of the selectmen and the Budget Committee failed, the article passed as requested at $113,000.”

There was also a motion to delete the police budget entirely, Ellsworth said.

But after the matter was discussed, the motion and second were withdrawn after assurances that a meeting would take place with the town manager to discuss “issues” and if those “issues” could not be resolved, selectmen would also become involved on an as needed basis, he said.

Ellsworth said he plans to try to resolve any issues through meetings with the individual(s) and Police Chief Philip Weymouth.

Voters also approved using $285,000 from the town’s general fund to buy a new pumper/tanker truck for the Rangeley Fire and Rescue Department. The department contracts to provide service to three plantations and Franklin and Oxford counties and those entities will be responsible for sharing the cost. Those funds will be returned to the town’s surplus.

Elected from the floor to the Budget Committee were Diane Trask, to a three-year term; Gordon Haley and Margaret “Jo” Davenport, to two-year terms; and James Carignan, Harold Schaetzel and Edward McMannus, to one-year terms, Ellsworth said.

“The meeting was a success with good participation from the floor,” he said. “The selectmen thank all that participated and look forward to our next year.”