By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

The proposed community center in New Boston suffered a defeat, but nearly all other articles met with voters’ approval on Tuesday, March 14.

The new community center was voted down by a margin of 67 votes. The voters cast their ballots against a $75,000 appropriation into a capital reserve fund for the proposed community center by a vote of 493-426, barely defeating Article 18 on the Town Warrant.

The article explanation for that item, which did not appear on the ballot but was released to local media and available around town, said, “Recreation programming is generally growing and expanding. The 2004 community profile identified providing improved facilities for various community purposes including those of the recreation department as a high priority.”

Voters elected incumbent chairman Gordon Carlstrom over Michael Pimenta by a margin of 502-364, sending Carlstrom back to the chairman’s seat for another three-year term.

A $60,000 appropriation for renovations to town hall passed, 588-305. Selectmen intend to request the same amount of money for the next five years, covering the final expected renovation cost of $300,000, said Town Administrator Burton Reynolds.

The request for that appropriation appeared as Article 11 on the town ballot. According to the article explanation, the capital reserve fund for town hall renovations will pay for rehabilitations to the first floor of the building.

The preparation of a new recreational field for $20,000 across from the current fields on Old Coach Road met with voters’ approval by a margin of 530-389.

This item, appearing on the ballot as Article 17, will provide practice fields for baseball and softball teams, and will open up 40 new parking spaces, said Recreation Committee Chairman Lee Brown.

The town’s operating budget of $3,129,263 passed 603-611-280. The budget, appearing as Article 10 on the ballot, was selected over a default budget of $2,938,775.

School voting

On the school district side, voters approved an operating budget of $9,402,238 for the 2006-07 school year, 619-297.

According to the article explanation for this item, “Most of the school budget in any year is driven by ‘non-discretionary’ dollars, including previously negotiated salaries ($109,596 increase) and benefits ($165,430 increase) ... and other fixed costs.”

Write-in candidate Jamie Neefe received 72 votes for school board member.