Lyndeborough passed all 16 articles on the Town Meeting warrant with no amendments, including the $2.17 million budget, with a small crowd in attendance during its Town Meeting on Saturday.
About 30 residents attended the in-person meeting, wearing masks and socially distanced, according to Moderator Walter Holland.
“Everything went quietly this year. We got through it,” Holland said.
Most articles passed by a voice vote without issue, Holland said. The most controversial article of the day was the final one, a proposed solar property tax exemption. The article passed, but only narrowly, in a 17-14 hand count vote, according to Holland.
The article allows homeowners to invest in solar energy systems, and then not pay taxes on whatever additional value the panels may add to their home. Holland said this article had among the most discussion of the day, as taxpayers needed clarity on exactly how the exemption worked, and was too close to call by a voice vote or show of hands.
The town also agreed other tax modifications, to allow for an expansion of the town’s elderly property tax exemption and disabled property tax exemptions. Both changes update the qualifications for yearly income and total assets, allowing people to own or earn slightly more and still qualify, as well as increasing the total tax exemption for those groups.
There was only one article seeking to replace equipment this year, a $35,000 request for new radios for the Fire Department. Residents agreed to use funds from the capital reserve for fire department equipment to cover the entire cost of the purchase.
Most of Lyndeborough’s articles this year were adding funds to various capital reserves for future purposes, including the future repair of bridges, highway equipment and police and fire vehicles. Voters approved all capital reserve articles, and also approved a change of purpose for the town’s existing fund for the “repair and replacement of the 2002 Fire Department Rescue Vehicle” capital reserve to a more general account for the replacement of all future rescue trucks.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.