Mansfield budget referendum confirms results of Town Meeting

A petitioned referendum Tuesday (June 14) confirmed the results of the Annual Town Meeting at which a $44.1 million budget for 2010-2012 was passed.

At today’s referendum, voters were asked whether or not they supported the budget adopted May 10, as well as four advisory questions – in the event the budget failed, to be used as feedback regarding where to cut: is the town budget too high/too low? is the education budget too high/too low?

At the Town Meeting, the town/school budget was approved by a vote of 163 “yes” to 77 “no”.

The referendum vote supported the budget 612 “yes” vs 424 “no”, including absentee ballots and votes cast by 10 property owners eligible to vote, according to Mansfield Town Clerk Mary Stanton.

As for the advisory questions, 556 voters felt that the town budget is too high and 317 felt it is too low, and 381 voters felt the education budget is too high vs 429 who felt it is too low.

The general government budget of $13,829,750 is an increase of $709,855, or 5.1 percent, over the current fiscal year.

The Mansfield education budget of $20,572,170 is a decrease of $15,990, or 0.1 percent, compared to the current budget.

The town’s share of the Regional School District 19 education budget, approved at referendum May 3, is $9,729,230, which is a reduction of $194,998, or 2 percent.

Posted June 14, 2011

Have a news item or event you’d like posted on this news site? Simply send your information to editor@htnp.com and include your town in the subject line of your email. Please also include a phone number where you can be reached if there are questions. To keep up-to-date on local news, “like” us (HTNP) on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!