BELLOWS FALLS -- After months of discussion and some spirited politicking from both sides over the past few weeks, village residents overwhelmingly approved the 2009 budget at the annual meeting Monday.
The vote ensures the village will keep its full-time police and fire departments for at least another year after both departments were debated at trustee meetings over the past few months.
"I can't thank the voters enough for supporting the village police department," Police Chief Ron Lake said after the vote. "We've made changes and I think the residents have noticed what we are doing."
The $1.5 million budget passed by an approximately two-thirds vote. About 140 people came out for the annual village meeting.
The village trustees talked about disbanding the Bellows Falls Police Department and hiring the Windham County Sheriff's Department to cover law enforcement in Bellows Falls, but that topic was never even debated at the meeting Monday.
Lake said he was hired with a six-month contract and he had no idea what would happen if the budget were defeated.
Since being hired earlier this year, Lake has eliminated most of the overtime in the department and hired some part-time officers to keep expenses down.
And while the voters approved his 2009 budget, he said he knows the debate is not over.
"I know I am being watched," he said. "I am very happy about this. Very happy, but I know I am still going to be year-to-year."
A motion was made from the floor to form a new committee to look at services in the village, but that motion failed by two votes, losing on a 57-55 vote.
"The police department goes through this year after year and it wears on the department," village trustee Roger Riccio said to a round of applause. "I think it is a bad idea."
Before the budget vote, David Groenewold said he was going to oppose the spending plan because he wants to see Rockingham residents cover some of the expenses.
"We have an unequal tax structure," he said, adding that Rockingham residents enjoy some of the benefits of the village without paying for them. "Bellows Falls takes the brunt of things. We need some help here."
But Timothy Olmstead said it would not be right to vote down the budget and leave the trustees without direction.
"It might be a good idea but it's not going to happen this year," he said. "By next year there should be something done about it."
The village voters also rejected a plan to vote on the budget by Australian ballot.
Supporters of the change say more people can vote on the budget at the polls the day after the meeting, but critics say they would vote without discussing it.
The question was decided by a paper ballot and went down by a 78-63 vote.
The budget was discussed at a series of meetings earlier in the year and the trustees tried to find some revenue to keep taxes down.
At the annual meeting Monday the budget discussion barely lasted 30 minutes and the meeting was over by 8:30.
Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 279.