MADISON — Residents Monday night narrowly defeated funding for a curbside recycling program in the latest effort to curb municipal spending in the wake of the closure of the Madison Paper Industries.

Funding for the program was defeated 65-63 in a written ballot at the annual Town Meeting. In discussion leading up to the vote, several residents spoke in favor of recycling and others questioned the success of the program, which the Board of Selectmen recommended eliminating as the town faces a tightening budget due to the closure of Madison Paper Industries.

“The issue is not should residents recycle, but rather is it fiscally responsible for all of the taxpayers to fund curbside recycling?” said Town Manager Tim Curtis in opening remarks at Madison Area Junior High School. About 140 people attended the meeting and approved an overall budget of $2.64 million.

Recycling proved to be the most hotly contested issue of the night after one resident, who declined to give his name, made a motion that money for the curbside recycling program be added back into the budget.

Another resident, Doug Denico, questioned the motion and said he felt the recycling program was not used by enough residents to make it worthwhile. About 250 residents and 30 businesses currently participate in the program, according to Chris Roy, who runs the curbside pick-up service.

Several residents spoke in favor of keeping curbside recycling, which last year was budgeted at a cost of $38,000.

“It’s an environmental thing,” said resident Raymond Soucy. “It’s not just shoveling snow or mowing the lawn. What’s going to happen if there’s no recycling? It’s going to go in the rubbish. There are about 200 of us that do recycle. Why should we be punished? We should be recognized and given credit for being a good example of what the rest of the town should be doing.”

The elimination of the recycling program is just the latest budget reduction the town has been forced to make in the wake of changes at Madison Paper Industries, according to town officials. The mill, the town’s largest taxpayer, stopped production last month and is in the process of shutting down.

“This year’s town meeting is one of the most significant we’ve had in years, if not in generations, because of the closure of Madison Paper,” Curtis said Monday. The budget approved Monday is down about two percent from the current budget, but Curtis also said it is too early to say what impact the mill closure will have on this year’s tax rate.

Each item in the 29-article warrant was approved with no changes Monday, with the exception of a proposed amendment to the Building Construction Ordinance. The change would have allowed the town to impose fees of up to 10 percent of a project’s cost on building construction projects that are started without a permit.

Residents did approve changes to the town’s Property Maintenance Ordinance that will allow the town to seek a court order against violators and issue the bill to the property owner. The changes come after the town recently charged one property owner on Old Point Avenue $15,000 for violations in the downtown area.

A proposal to designate a “village area” in downtown Madison was not presented to voters after it was met with opposition at public hearings.

Elections will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the town office. There are three candidates for two seats on the board of selectmen.

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm