CARTHAGE – People here figure they’re getting a bargain in First Selectman Stephen Brown.

That’s probably why Monday, from the floor of the annual town meeting, they voted 43-0 to double Brown’s annual bonus from $9,500 to $19,000.

“He pretty much does all the jobs of a town manager and has for years, pretty much without getting paid for it,” Town Clerk and Tax Collector Linda Berry said Wednesday.

Brown has been first selectman for 27 years and has done much to pull this Franklin County town of about 540 residents from debt to prosperity during his tenure, residents said praising the selectman on Monday.

“He could up and leave, and we would be in trouble,” Linda Berry said.

Her husband, Scott Berry, the town’s second selectman, has known Brown all his life and said the boost from townspeople was well-deserved. From working to get three bridges in town replaced, to serving the community either as a selectman or on various other regional boards and committees, to writing grant applications that have annually fetched the town resources, Brown is an public official who gets things done for the people, Scott Berry said.

“Steve is dedicated to the town, and he has gotten a lot of money for us in his 27 years so everybody agreed it only seemed right,” Scott Berry said.

Brown is 63, single and drives a 1991 Toyota Camry with 200,000 miles on it, he said.

“I’m not going to go out and buy a Mercedes or anything” with the extra money, he said Wednesday.

The former woodsman said he lives on his regular selectman’s pay, which hasn’t changed in six years, and the $9,500 bonus he’s been getting for several years.

“I live simply,” he said.

Brown’s regular pay as selectman is $4,250 a year, but because he has taken on other duties over the years the town Budget Committee has regularly recommended a bonus for him. But few expected townspeople to double the amount, Scott Berry said.

“He was quite overwhelmed by the gesture,” Scott Berry said. “We think he figured he should get more but didn’t figure that much. He was quite tickled with it.”

But there’s little question as to whether Brown has earned it, Scott Berry said.

“He regularly works at the town office until 9, 10 at night,” Scott Berry said. “Sometimes he’s there until the wee hours – 1, 2 in the morning.”

In thanking the town Monday, Brown said that the budget was still below the state cap and that the town has not had to borrow for operating expenses since 1982.

“I really appreciate it,” Brown said Wednesday of the bonus. He said a portion of the money would go toward paying higher health insurance costs, but he didn’t expect the bonus to be doubled, and it was never a discussion item for the town’s budget committee.

Over the years, his selectman’s work has morphed into a full-time job, he said. He enjoys the variety of the work and helping people, Brown said. He also said Carthage doesn’t have a road commissioner or a tax assessor like other towns. That work is left largely to the selectmen, he said. The higher bonus was more a token of the people’s appreciation, Brown said.

“People said some nice things, and they voted on it,” Brown said. “I was kind of taken aback to tell you the truth, and I really appreciate it.”

Like most small-town public officials, Brown said, he didn’t do the job for the money. “This is my town, and I live here,” he said. “I don’t think any selectman is in it for the money.”