Dresden residents will be asked to vote on 52 warrant articles when they assemble at the annual town meeting beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 18 at Pownalborough Hall.

Selectmen will be asking to approve a municipal budget of $718,969 or a $14,510 reduction over 2015. The budget review committee voted to request $699,469 or a $34,010 reduction over last year.

The two bodies disagreed on highway expenditures, the budget committee coming in at $302,974 as opposed to selectmen, $322,974.

Explaining the difference, Selectman Allan Moeller Sr. said he tries to make the best estimates on winter sand and salt expenditures which can vary several thousand dollars depending on the severity of the winter.

“We don’t like peaks and valleys from year to year,” said Moeller.

He said the highway budget does carry over unspent funds into the next fiscal year, a practice that will be changing in the coming year.

Moeller said the carryover helps in case of unforeseen emergencies. For example, the town will be receiving a $95,000 grant for a culvert replacement on Bog Road. The town will have to come up with $20,000 toward the cost.

He said future budgets will be based on documented expenditures, not on the budgeted amounts from the previous year’s warrant. He said that he has always been careful not to borrow from one highway budget line to use in another.

Moeller said that the selectmen are in agreement with budget committee members on the new policy.

“We are pretty much on the same page,”said Moeller. 

Article 35 asks townspeople to form an exploratory committee “to see if it is in the best interest of the Town to remain in RSU #2.”

Budget committee member Jeff Pierce said he brought up the issue because there has been no examination of the finances of staying in the Regional School Unit 2 since Dresden joined seven years ago.

“There is no review process,” said Pierce.

He said that he is personally pleased with the education provided by the RSU but thinks that the issue of escalating costs should be put on the table. He said that the committee might be able to come up with a different payment arrangement in the process.