FAIRFIELD — Residents voted Monday evening to spend less on town salaries and operations by almost $30,000 due to concerns over a 7% raise for some town employees.

Only Article 3, the warrant article appropriating money for government salaries and operations, was voted down then changed after some residents said the included 7% raise for town office employees — including Town Manager Michelle Flewelling — was too high.

But Flewelling said those raises, including her own, made up just $20,000 of the total budget.

More than 130 people attended the annual town meeting in the gym at the Fairfield Community Center. Residents sat in rows while councilors and Flewelling were perched on the stage for three hours of heated discussion, vote recounts and confusion between the moderator and residents.

The $8.28 million budget passed with $2,776,702 coming from property taxes. The property tax rate is estimated to increase next fiscal year from $18.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to about $19.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

While discussing Article 3, many residents weighed the 7% raise with their own financial hardships, including Andrea Beaupre, a Fairfield resident who said she is unable to work because of a disability. She has only started following Fairfield politics this year because of recent struggles to pay bills.

“Last year was the first year in eight years that I struggled to pay my property taxes,” Beaupre said Tuesday. “I had a lien on my house for the first time in eight years because I did not make enough to cover the (tax) increase, on top of CMP bill, on top of my sewer bill, on top of cost of living, the inflation happening, sports, my children’s extracurricular activities, food.”

Beaupre arrived to the meeting two hours late because she was taking care of her children while her husband finished a 16-hour shift. She said she was lucky to arrive in time for the reconsideration of town salaries and discussion of raises at the end of the meeting.

“I’m not opposed to raises,” Beaupre said Tuesday. “I just felt the percentage was pretty steep when we have several other topic matters that (we) needed handled, first and foremost, that in my opinion took priority over raises.”

The vote passed only after Beaupre proposed amending the article to lower it by $28,000, which she said reduced the raise to 3%. However, Fairfield does appropriate money by line item and operation of the budget lies with town administration — meaning residents cannot specifically target raises.

Several residents demanded to know the identity of the highest paid employee in town. Fairfield Town Council Chairman Tim Martin said Flewelling is the highest-paid employee in the town office department, but not in all of town.

Resident Kerry Hekl said Wednesday questions about specific individuals crossed a line, and were irrelevant.

“People were very upset about the raise for our town manager,” Hekl said. “There has been a lot of contention on that on social media. I truly don’t know why. Michelle is a contracted employee, and her contract has already been signed for the year.”

Flewelling makes just over $110,000 annually and received her raise last December. She said some town office employees make $21.50 an hour, and that the 7% raise won’t begin to cover their increase in medical insurance expected in December.

“I have people who are making less money now than they were making a year ago, because the insurance went up 9%,” Flewelling said. “In that budget that was put forward, total raises were only around $20,000. For all of them, including me.”

Martin also noted at the meeting that residents voted to approve millions in salaries and operations for other departments with much higher raises than 7%, along with a 40% budget increase for Delta Ambulance services.

“I find it really unfair that you’re picking on one department of nonunion employees receiving less raises than every other department you just voted for,” Martin told the residents.

Residents remained focused on Article 3. As residents lowered the amount by $10,000, then $28,000, one resident asked what would happen if the number gets too low. Councilor Stephanie Thibodeau responded that if the warrant article failed, residents would not be able to register their cars or get fishing licenses — but she was interrupted by shouts of anger from the crowd.

State Rep. Shelley Rudnicki, a Republican who represents Fairfield where she is also a resident, denounced Thibodeau’s statement in a raised voice.

“I want to say, Councilor Thibodeau, you just gave a false statement,” Rudnicki said. “I’m sorry, but you gave a false statement saying the government is going to shut down, that people can’t register their cars — that’s a false statement. Because if you’ve got eight people working in that office, for a town of 6,000 people, guys — we have eight people in the town office, and we can’t even be open one night a week for those people that work?”

She was met with applause.

Flewelling said that Thibodeau was correct in her statement.

“If Councilor Thibodeau had finished her statement, she was 100% correct,” Flewelling said Thursday. “Because as the budget sat right then and there, with no money appropriated for Article 3, the town office would have closed on July 1. So to say that they were not going to be able to register their cars or get their hunting and fishing license at the town office if there was no budget, was an absolutely, 100% true statement.”

Carol-Ann Bagnulo, who served on the town budget committee, said Tuesday that residents missed the big picture by focusing on town employee salaries.

“I think it really is going to hurt this town in the long run to have nitpicked on Article 3 and to drop the amount as much as they did,” Bagnulo said. “Because they affected the people that work in the office, and we have a hard time keeping people because of wages as it is — they’re paid less in this town than other townships. But they wanted to go after a certain someone and nitpick about it, and I think it was wrong.”

Bagnulo said more residents should speak to councilors, attend meetings and get involved. Fairfield needs informed residents to build a better community, she said.

“If you think about it for a second, we’re one tiny, little not even a pinprick on a map, but we have a horrible reputation because of the noise that is made by certain people out there,” Bagnulo said. “If you want to talk about it, then get your butt in there and get involved. But don’t talk about it when you’re just assuming, and what you’re hearing is hearsay.”