Lyndeborough voters will decide whether or not to allow the operation of KENO 603 in town during this year’s Town Meeting.

During each KENO 603 game, players can choose up to 12 numbers between one and 80. Every five minutes, a computer randomly generates 20 winning numbers. The more numbers a player matches, the more money he or she wins.

When KENO was first introduced, legislation dictated that it was allowed only in restaurants and bars, and only when a municipality voted to allow it.

According to Town Administrator Russ Boland, this is the first time the town will be taking a vote on the issue of KENO, because this is the first year the town has a business interested in installing a game.

Rules were expanded in the summer of 2022 to add convenience stores to the kinds of businesses that can operate a KENO game. Boland said the town has been approached by the owners of the Lyndeborough Village Store, who are interested in installing a KENO machine.

“This is the first time we’ve been approached about it,” Boland said.

Boland said the town is exploring whether the warrant can be site-specific to the Lyndeborough Village Store, or must include the entire town.

In the Monadnock region, Wilton, Jaffrey and Peterborough have all already approved KENO games.

In another warrant article, voters will be asked to readopt the town’s veteran’s tax credit, due to a change in legislation that widens the scope for what veterans are included. Lyndeborough currently has a $500 tax credit for veterans who fought during active conflicts, according to Boland.

New Hampshire previously required that a person must have been honorably discharged from their service to be eligible for a tax credit, but a recent change in the law has updated the language to include veterans who are still actively serving in the military or are in the Reserves.

Boland said the town would continue to offer the current amount of $500 per veteran, if the warrant article passes.

In other Select Board news, Lyndeborough is discussing whether to share the cost of an annual contingency fee for a communications tower located in Wilton.

Wilton Town Administrator Nick Germain said the tower was constructed on Dram Cup Hill in order to eliminate dark spots in the town’s radio coverage.

“Wilton has a lot of nooks and crannies where coverage is not as good as other locations, and the town explored options to get rid of those blackouts. Part of that was getting a new tower set up,” Germain said.

Though Wilton owns the tower, Lyndeborough and Mont Vernon use the tower to assist with increasing their own coverage.

Each year, Wilton pays an emergency repair fee to Beltronics, a communications company that services the tower. Germain said the fee is not for a specific repair, but is an annual maintenance fee. The total cost of the fee is $4,700, and Wilton is requesting that Lyndeborough and Mont Vernon each pay an equal split of the cost.

Lyndeborough Select Board members discussed the request during their meeting on Wednesday, but delayed a decision to request more information from Wilton about what the fee covered.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.