Durham Passes Budget, Fulton Elected to Board of Education

Durham voters overwhelmingly approved the town's 2011-2012 budget during the annual budget meeting Monday night at Coginchaug Regional High School.

About 200 residents showed up to vote at the meeting, a number that several speakers indicated was the largest crowd they could remember at a budget meeting.

Following a brief period of public comment, a vote was taken on the $5,377,918 budget, which will increase spending by $66,935 over the current budget. 

The majority of the audience could be heard voting in favor of the budget, while a handful opposed the town's spending plan for next year.

Approval of the budget will result in a 0.73 mill increase for the town portion of the mill rate. The final mill rate will be set following the approval of the Regional School District 13 budget. 

A second referendum on the Regional School District 13 budget has been scheduled for Thursday, May 26. 

Voters Elect New Board of Education Member

Residents also elected three members to the Regional School District 13 Board of Education Monday night.

Kerrie Flanagan (151 votes) and Norm Hicks (124) were re-elected, while Bob Fulton (125), a 25 year resident, was elected as a new member to the board.

Current board member Debra Golschneider (62) was not re-elected and Laurie Tuttle (70) did not receive enough votes.

"The board does a lot of hard work. I think overall they do a wonderful job. I need to spend some time getting into the detail and we'll see where it goes from there," Fulton said afterwards.

Board of Education members elected on Monday will serve a three-year term, beginning on July 1.

DMIAAB Board

Chris Flanagan and Bob Czarnecki were re-elected to the Durham-Middlefield Interlocal Agreement Advisory Board.