ENFIELD — Voters decided against giving 10% of the land use change tax — not to exceed $5,000 — to the town’s Conservation Commission during the floor portion of Enfield Town Meeting on Saturday.

The article failed, 92-61, in paper balloting.

During a back-and-forth floor debate, Conservation Commission Chairman Jerold Theis said the tax money was needed to help maintain the town’s trails and recreation areas.

“From my point of view, this is not an exorbitant request,” Theis said.

Leigh Davis, a member of the commission, said the additional money “would allow us to carry on our education,” including going into schools to teach students about conservation efforts.

But some residents were wary about using tax dollars to fund a single town commission.

“I don’t like the precedent it sets,” said Tim Lenihan, who was elected to the town’s Budget Committee and also the Zoning Board of Adjustment in Tuesday’s Australian balloting.

Lenihan argued that turning over tax dollars to the Conservation Commission could open the door for other town commissions to make similar requests.

Douglas Smith, who serves on the Conservation Commission with Theis and Davis, said moving forward the commission must give residents more specifics on how it plans to spend the tax dollars.

“We need to come back to you next year,” Smith said.

In another conservation commission-proposed article, residents didn’t support designating 100 acres of town-owned land on Methodist Hill Road as a town forest.

“I appreciate the intent of this article,” Harrison Drinkwater, who was among several Methodist Hill residents to voice concerns about the proposal. “I’d just like to see this opened up to a more detailed discussion.”

Voters agreed, approving Drinkwater’s motion that the Selectboard study the proposal further.

The first hour of Town Meeting, which returned to the Enfield Village School for the first time since 2019, was spent talking about the proposed $8.2 million town operating budget.

When other spending articles were included, property owners faced a proposed municipal tax rate increase of up to 16.78%.

“As we all know, a lot of things went up,” Budget Committee Chairman Dimitri Deserranno said, referencing inflation.

He also cited an 8% cost-of-living raise for town employees and the first year of a bond for a new public safety facility, which voters approved last year.

As voters arrived at the meeting, resident David Beaufait urged them to defeat the budget. He handed out fliers that argued a 16.78% tax rate increase was “TOO MUCH!!!”

Mascoma Valley School District and neighboring Canaan managed to create budgets with much smaller increases, Beaufait said during the discussion. “I wish my savings had gone up 16.78%,” he said.

Beaufait proposed an amendment to reduce the budget by $245,000, $165,000 of which would come from the undesignated fund balance.

Wendy Piper, a Grafton County commissioner, agreed that, while the budget increase was too high, she supported the raises for town employees.

“Public employment on all levels is not sought after anymore,” Piper said.

She encouraged town officials to find the proposed cuts somewhere else, including a proposed outside study of town wages: “Every single person in Enfield is suffering. … (They) simply cannot sustain these budget increases.”

Enfield Police Chief Roy Holland questioned Beaufait’s amendment because it didn’t specify which parts of the budget to cut.

It’s not fair that the Selectboard should have to figure out where to make the cuts, Holland said.

“It is not the responsibility of us as citizens” to tell the Selectboard what to cut, Beaufait responded. “That comes from the leadership.”

Resident Dan Curtis worried that, if the amendment passed, the cuts would ultimately come from the salary increases for town employees.

“You’re punishing employees who are already suffering,” Curtis said. “You’re just going to make it worse by reducing this budget.”

In paper balloting, the amendment failed, 93-67.

Voters than passed the proposed budget with a paper ballot, 97-68.

During the roughly three-hour meeting, voters also approved adding $10,000 to the Employee and Retiree Benefits Expendable Trust Fund.

Also passing: re-approval of a property tax exemption for those who own solar panels, a veterans tax credit, an active duty military tax credit and allowing the Trustees of the Trust Funds to pay for capital reserve fund management services, using the town’s capital reserve funds income.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.

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