WHITEFIELD — Whitefield’s 44 warrant articles passed at the annual Town Meeting on Saturday with 64 registered voters attending.

The final approved budget for Whitefield is $1,556,698, with $1,075,098 to be raised by taxes. Residents approved article 42 to raise revenue in the amount of $481,600.

According to Town Clerk Yolanda Violette, the meeting started at 10 a.m. and ended just before noon. It was held at the Whitefield Elementary School gym.

“Everything passed, but there were a few changes to articles,” Violette said of the meeting. Articles 20, 30 and 37 had some “minor” changes made on the spot, she said.

Article 20, which covers winter maintenance of town roads, increased by $40,000, bringing the total for the article to $419,200. Violette said when the town put the budget together, the estimated cost of the contract for the service was $300,000, but it was $40,000 higher than intended, bringing the contract cost to $340,000.

For article 30, which covers line striping on Townhouse, Hunts Meadow, North Hunts Meadow and South Hunts Meadow roads, the budget went from $5,200 to $6,220. Violette said the original estimate was “under estimated.”

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Article 37 donates to organizations in the community and had two changes — the Whitefield Library went from receiving $500 to getting $1,500 and the Waldo County Community Action Program received $0.

The program was slated to receive $469 on request of the organization and recommendation from the Select Board, but the budget committee did not want to reward the organization with any money, because they felt the organization did not go through the proper application process to receive the money.

“We have an initial form that needs to be filed upon requesting from the municipality, and we gave a leeway due to COVID,” Violette said. “They didn’t give us detailed information about how many residents were served, so the budget committee felt like they didn’t follow the proper application process and felt it didn’t provide the information needed.”

The total amount the town will donate to local organizations, after the changes, is $7,404.

At the time, the tax rate for the town is still $15.68 per $1,000 of property value and until the school budget is voted on, the town will not know the change, if there is one at all. The Regional School Unit 12 budget will go to voters Tuesday.

Select Board Member Charlene Donahue presented Whitefield Library volunteers with the Spirit of America award at the beginning of Town Meeting. The program honors volunteers and was given to Tom Bennie, Erik Ekholm, Dan Joslyn, Chris Kaminsky, Dennis Merrill, Mike McMorrow and Cheryle Joslyn.

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