After the failure of the proposed budget in March, the Rindge Select Board has decided not to address the budget in a special Town Meeting, expecting to move forward with its default budget.

In March, voters rejected multiple warrant articles, including additions to capital reserves, expendable trusts, adding a new police officer and the proposed budget of $5.63 million. The budget was rejected in an 850-783 vote.

When a budget fails at the polls, towns have two options. Each town that conducts a ballot election must create a default budget, which is the same budget as the previous year, with additions for contracted items already approved by the public, and minus one-time expenditures. The default budget for the town for fiscal 2026, which starts July 1, is $5.49 million. The other option is to hold a special Town Meeting to address the budget only.

On Wednesday, the board started its meeting by welcoming new member Larry Cleveland and electing Bob Hamilton as chair and Tom Coneys as vice chair. One of the first items taken up by the new board was how to proceed after the failed budget vote – whether to use the default budget or to hold a special Town Meeting to come up with a new, compromise budget.

Hamilton said he had qualms about a special Town Meeting.

“The trouble with a special meeting, is people could come into the special meeting and cut the budget even further, below the default,” Hamilton said. “Is that worth the risk?”

Hamilton said a special Town Meeting would also have to be run the same as a regular election, requiring a deliberative session and a voting session, with a dictated amount of time between the two. He said that would result in the town not having a settled budget until the end of May or early June, at the soonest.

“We’d be pushing it out forever and ever and ever. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not interested in a special meeting,” Hamilton said.

Coneys said he agreed with the assessment.

“It’s $135,000 [difference] to the default and we’re halfway through the year before you can even look at it, I think it’s going to be an entire waste of time,” Coneys said of holding a special Town Meeting.

Hamilton asked if there was further discussion on the topic. Cleveland offered no comments, and though the board took no official vote on the matter, decided by consensus to move forward with the default budget rather than pursue a special Town Meeting.

Camping ordinance approved

In other Select Board news, the board gave its final approval to a new ordinance dictating rules for camping on town properties.

During March elections, voters gave their approval for the adoption of the ordinance. The ordinance requires written permission from the Seelct Board to camp on any town property, including parks, parking lots, public streets, the Town Common or any town-owned conservation lands.

Camping is defined in the ordinance as “any activity that involves an overnight stay, whether sheltered or unsheltered or within a conveyance,” which would include people sleeping in their cars. It also includes “activities commonly associated with the preperation for an overnight stay,” whether or not the person has actually stayed the night.

All permitted camping will operate on a “carry in, carry out” principle, where campers are responsible for removing anything they bring onto town property.

If anyone is found in violation of the ordinance, they would be required to immediately vacate the property, and would be subject to a fine of $100 for the first offense. For any second or subsequent offense within a 12-month period, the fine would be increased to $250 per violation. Fines would be required to be paid to the town within five days, and late payments may result in the issuance of a summons and added fines.

If a resident wishes to contest the violation, he or she must submit a request for a due process hearing within three days of the receipt of the violation.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.