Rindge residents voted down several articles on the town’s warrant on Tuesday, including the budget, a proposed 10th police officer and several proposed additions to capital reserves and expendable trusts.

The town’s operating budget was proposed at $5.63 million, and was rejected by voters in an 850-783 vote. The town will now operate under its default budget, which is the same as last year with some adjustments required by law, and is set at $4.49 million. The town also has the option to hold a special Town Meeting to take up the issue of a revised budget.

Residents also rejected a petition article that sought to study Rindge’s withdrawal from the cooperative school district it shares with Jaffrey. The vote was closer than most taken that day, with 803 in favor, and 854 against conducting the study.

The district has studied the issue before, including most recently five years ago. School Board Chair Chris Ratcliffe, who was campaigning for re-election at the polls on Tuesday, was on the committee that studied the matter five years ago, and said he didn’t see value in revisiting it.

“I see it as unnecessary,” Ratcliffe said. “We’ve done the study multiple times, and found that it’s much more costly to separate than stay together. I would rather focus our resources on other things.”

A proposal for a 10th full-time officer for the Rindge Police Department was resoundingly defeated by voters, who said no in a 1,300-347  vote.

One measure voters were in favor of was a petition article to implement a Community Power program. Community Power works by using the collective buying power of a community to negotiate for electricity rates. The proposal for Rindge is to switch the default supplier for Rindge residents from Eversource to Cheshire Community Power. Those who already purchase their energy from a supplier other than Eversource are not impacted, and those who wish to stay with Eversource have the opportunity to opt out of the program either during sign-up or at any time afterward. Voters approved the measure 990-644.

Voters also rejected spending $60,375 in unused bond funds remaining from the town’s bond to bring fiber internet to every home in Rindge.

The money would have been used for the installation of a HVAC/ventilation system for the town offices and needed a 60% vote to pass. However, voters rejected it outright, 1,045-576.

Several capital reserves and expendable trusts will not be funded this year. The town uses these accounts as savings to save for large capital expenses, in an effort to flatten the budget and avoid large spikes when a new piece of equipment comes due for purchase. Voters said no to the following additions to reserves: $145,000 for the fire equipment reserve, $150,000 for the highway equipment reserve, $100,000 for the municipal building reserve, $25,000 for the Meetinghouse maintenance reserve and $50,000 for the police equipment reserve.

Voters were in favor of additions to some accounts, including $25,000 for the recreation facilities reserve, $20,000 for the Ingalls Memorial Library expendable trust and $25,000 for the revaluation capital reserve.

Voters approved additional funds for the Jaffrey-Rindge Memorial Ambulance, and to establish a trust fund for the ambulance moving forward. While the bulk of the proposed budget for the ambulance is included in the town’s budget, the town included a separate warrant article for $38,500, the difference between last year’s ambulance cost and this year’s, which would only be enacted if the budget failed. As the budget did fail, and voters approved the additional funds in a 1,181-457 vote, the article passed. Voters also approved creating an expendable trust for the ambulance, and seeding it with $40,000.

Larry Cleveland takes Select Board seat

Candidate Larry Cleveland will be taking a seat at the Select Board table this year, his first stint on the board, after beating Forbes Farmer in a 969-692 race.

“I’m concerned about taxes, that’s my main thing,” Cleveland said at the polls on Tuesday. “I’m a few years out from retirement, and I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to afford to keep living here.”

In other contested races, Matthew Olson and Curt Sauvola will be taking the two seats on the Planning Board, with 899 and 886 votes, respectively, beating out third candidate Mark Hower for the seats. Hower received 653 votes.

Hower will however be taking a seat on another board, the Budget Advisory Committee, along with Daniel Whitney. The two ran unopposed for the two seats on the board, with Hower receiving 835 votes and Whitney 906.

In the only other contest on the ballot, Joseph Hannon received 862 votes to Paula (Candy) Phillips’ 548 for the position of cemetery trustee. In uncontested races, Martin Kulla was elected to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Anne Reed to Trustees of the Trust Funds and Lorraine Horne and Florence Marsh to the library trustees.

Voters approved all the proposed zoning amendments with one exception, that being Article 7, which proposed changing the town’s phased development ordinance to allow more units to be built per year when a development plans multiple homes. Voters rejected the article in an 805- 757 vote.

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