Lebanon voters order up a budget split

Town officials plan to begin working soon on an ordinance to split the votes on the education and general government budgets after hearing overwhelming support for the idea from voters.

An advisory question gauging the interest of voters in Tuesday’s election passed with ease, with 954 voters urging the town to go forward and only 390 residents saying “no.”

Finance board Chairman Liz Charron said her board will now work with selectmen to gather the “key information” needed to create an ordinance to split the budget votes.

The ordinance would allow residents to vote on education and general government spending plans separately, as opposed to collectively, the town’s current method.

Charron said officials need to determine how the town will administer the ordinance, specifically how it will handle the budget if residents approve only one portion of the budget.

“We want to have that in the ordinance,” she said.

The finance board and selectmen will then work out the details and give the information to the town attorney, who will then write a draft proposal for the ordinance.

Charron said any proposal will need to receive approval from residents and she said she hopes to bring it to a town meeting sometime early next year.

The timeline would allow the town to install the ordinance for budget votes in May 2009 if residents approve it.

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t (have it in place),” Charron said, adding Tuesday’s advisory questions show the proposal would likely have plenty of support.

Talks about the ordinance will come as town officials begin preliminary budget talks, but First Selectman Joyce Okonuk said she does not think one will distract from the other.

“We’ve developed ordinances in the past,” she said.

Charron said she the results added to her disappointment over the low turnout during the finance board’s two public hearings last month.

She said the low turnout resulted in “lack of comments” to the finance board and she said she feels many residents did not look into the issue thoroughly before voting.

The finance board voted unanimously last month to oppose the advisory question, the split could create the potential for more referendums, as well as polarize groups in town pushing their agendas in support or opposition of specific spending plans.

But proponents of a split budget claim two separate votes give taxpayers more of a say regarding education and general government spending.