SKOWHEGAN — Voters at the Skowhegan annual Town Meeting on Monday night voted to ban the retail sales of marijuana — by just one vote.

The vote banning retail and wholesale marijuana products and social clubs to consume the drug carried the day 44-43. No one questioned the outcome.

The close vote was supported with comments from the estimated 80 people present, saying pot sales would be a good source of tax revenue to support schools, roads “and everything else,” while others lamented such sales as a gateway to allowing other drugs, such as heroin, to be sold in town.

Skowhegan attorney John Youney said the question reminded him of the fireworks debate a couple of years ago, in which using them was OK, but selling them wasn’t.

“It’s the No. 1 cash crop in Somerset County,” Youney said. “We’d be failing to get money from commercial property. It makes me wonder what we’re doing.

Others said selling pot for taxes didn’t seem right — it was “inappropriate” for Skowhegan.

Selectmen agreed in January to move forward with a local ordinance that would prohibit all types of retail marijuana establishments and social clubs under the state’s municipal home rule authority. Skowhegan residents voted 2,152-1,879 against Question 1, which made recreational marijuana sales and consumption legal under state law, on the statewide referendum ballot Nov. 8.

The ordinance covers every aspect of possible marijuana sales within the town. It bans any retail marijuana cultivation facility, retail marijuana stores, product manufacturing and testing and clubs where marijuana is consumed.

All of that is now “expressly prohibited” in Skowhegan, but the ordinance would not prohibit the lawful use of pot as prescribed by Maine law or conduct related to medical marijuana and would not ban “recreational” or adult use.

Residents were sailing through spending articles Monday night on their way to passing the $10.8 million budget for the coming year, until the question of how to use $750,000 in surplus was raised in Article 46.

The selectmen and the Budget Committee recommended adopting a proposal to use up to $750,000 from surplus in several areas, including tax relief, and Town Manager Christine Almand’s budget draft included using that amount. The three sides disagreed about how to spend it, however. Proposed uses of the surplus money included funds for the public works roads and sidewalks reserve account, the proposed public safety building reserve account and the Parks and Recreation reserve account for the ballfield compound.

After three separate votes on amendments to the original article, Skowhegan residents voted to use $475,000 to reduce the tax rate, $150,000 for roads and sidewalks, $100,000 for a reserve account for the planning and construction of a new public safety building for the Fire Department and Police Department and $25,000 for the ballfields.

Voters at Town Meeting last year agreed to take $750,000 from surplus accounts to offset taxes this year. The vote in June 2016 disregarded recommendations by the Board of Selectmen to take $350,000 from surplus and by the Budget Committee to take $250,000.

Almand said before the meeting that the spending package for 2017-18 is up about $605,000, much of which will be seen in increases to several capital reserve accounts — about a $260,000 increase — for a new firetruck, road improvements, repairs to the municipal building and engineering costs associated with the possible new public safety building.

Almand said $90,000 also has been included in the proposed budget for increases in wages and benefits, as negotiated with the town’s four labor unions.

Residents approved raising and appropriating $1,447,447 for general government in the coming year, including money for the finance department, the town manager’s office, assessing, code enforcement and economic and community development.

Other spending lines approved in early voting included:

• $1,380,715 proposed for the Police Department.

• $872,457 for the Fire Department.

• $577,494 for waste water and pollution control.

• $437,915 for summer roads maintenance.

• $613,450 for winter roads.

• $232,000 for public works vehicle maintenance.

• $463,425 for Parks and Recreation.

• $1,667,944 for capital expenditures and debt retirement.

In other voting from the floor of the Town Meeting in the Skowhegan Opera House, a request for funding in the amount of $107,775 for the Skowhegan Free Public Library was approved. Selectmen and the town Budget Committee had recommended $103,952. Voters also said yes to $45,000 for Main Street Skowhegan, the non-profit revitalization group; $23,000 for the Chamber of Commerce; $15,000 for Hospice; and $15,000 for the community Food Cupboard.

An ordinance giving the town more authority on governing property maintenance was approved, as was an interlocal agreement with the town of Canaan to run Lake George Regional Park. The Town Meeting lasted just over two hours.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Municipal Building on Water Street for the election of town officers and members of the school board.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow