READFIELD -- Residents approved a municipal budget of $2.3 million at Thursday's annual town meeting and agreed to allow the town to issue a $1.5 million bond for road improvements.

However, the voting on the 67 articles on the warrant moved slowly, with the 160 registered voters reaching article 29 after 9 p.m.

The warrant articles covering the proposed budget for Readfield Elementary School were listed at the end, and a move to have them considered earlier failed to reach a two-thirds margin.

Town Manager Stefan Pakulski outlined the town's income and expenditures, saying that some town expenditures are rising. The municipal budget requires about $949,000 in local property tax dollars to support it.

"Readfield is growing in population and the property tax base is increasing," Pakulski said. "There are more of you and more valuable property and more demand for services, so our costs are rising."

Adopting the municipal budget as approved in the voice vote early in the meeting required a vote by secret ballot later in the meeting to exceed the state limit of $590,000 by $111,000.

The town budget, combined with a proposed school budget of almost $3.6 million, would result in keeping taxes flat for most residents, Pakulski said.

He said the tax for a $120,000 property -- the median home value in the town -- would be $1,850, almost exactly the same as the current year.

Several residents asked whether the town had hired more employees and planned to run a public works department.

Local resident Anita Buss said she did not want a town maintenance department to result from a regional group.

Residents voted to allow the town to spend up to $10,000 on mapping vernal pools in the town, limiting the tax dollar contribution to $2,500.

The Conservation Commission has proposed to raise the remainder of the money privately and through grants, said commission member Jerry Bley.

Select Board member Kathryn Woodsum said the board recommended against spending tax dollars.

"We felt it was up to the individual land owner to pay for this service," she told residents.

The proposal was supported by the Budget Committee and Planning Board.

Voters rejected a proposal to spend $8,000 to join a regional development committee.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com