New Ipswich residents presented dueling amendments over a petition article that would have raised employee insurance premiums during the town’s deliberative session on Tuesday.

The article, brought by a petition from Becky Doyle, would have directed the Select Board to require employees to pay no less than 25% of health, dental, vision and life insurance premiums. Currently, employees pay 15% of health and dental, 100% of vision coverage and none toward their life insurance.

Doyle said the town had recently changed insurance coverage, and had elected for a “Cadillac” plan that employees were contributing “very little” to.

“Where do we draw the line?” Doyle asked. “I think they should pay their fair share, and 25% is not a lot to ask.”

Residents who spoke at the meeting disagreed, with resident Sarah Cohen saying it was “ridiculous” to place additional financial burden on employees when the town already struggles with recruiting and retaining employees.

“In this instance, pinching pennies will not save you dollars,” Cohen said.

Resident John Schaumloffel offered the first of what became a string of proposed amendments to the article, offering that the employees would pay no less than 5% of their premiums, clarifying that it would be put to the Select Board to determine the final percentages, which could be more than 5% and make it possible to maintain the current plan.

The amendment passed by a voice vote, but almost immediately after, resident Chelsea Hatcher offered an amendment to change the wording to employees paying “no more than 5%” – an amendment that also passed, with a 31-26 standing count vote.

Resident Marcus Bredeson offered the final amendment of the night. After first proposing that the article be struck, which Moderator Bob Romerill said was beyond the powers of the meeting, Bredeson proposed employees pay “no less than 15%” of their insurance, in an attempt to make it as close to the Select Board’s original intent. This amendment also passed, and was left for the warrant in March.

The petition article was the most-contentious of the night, with only two other articles receiving amendments, and only one changing the article significantly.

During a discussion of a pair of articles having to do with closing the revolving fund for the town’s Green Center and moving the funds to an expendable trust, Trustee of the Trust Funds James Coffey pointed out there were different rules for investment of funds received as donations and those raised by tax dollars. It was clarified that the funds in the current revolving fund were all by donation, and the trust would continue to collect only donations.

However, the point applied to another article further down the warrant – one that created a new fund to save for the town’s upcoming 275th anniversary celebrations. The article would have created a fund using $5,000 in tax dollars as a seed, with other funds expected to come from donations.

Taking Coffey’s point about mixing tax and donation funds, Select Board Chair Shawn Talbot moved to amend the article to eliminate the raising of funds, instead simply opening the account and indicating that it was intended to be funded by donations. The motion passed.

The only other article amended was one of a pair of articles to raise funds for road repairs. The first article asks for $350,000 for road work, and the second $250,000. Both are required to complete the road work schedule for the coming year, but they are typically broken into two articles so that if one fails at the polls, at least some work can move ahead if the other passes. The second article neglected to include the word “maintain” along with reconstructing and paving, and Talbot motioned to amend the language to include that purpose, which passed.

The remaining articles, including the budget, were sent unchanged onto the March warrant, many with few comments from the public.

The budget this year is set at $3.36 million, about a 3% increase. The default budget, should the budget fail, is set at $3.33 million.

An article separate from the budget calls for a new full-time position that combines the fire chief, building inspector and code enforcement officer. All the positions exist, but are part-time and paid by stipend. The article would raise $52,000 for a half-year’s worth of salary and benefits, and would be included in the budget in subsequent years at a full year’s salary.

Fire Chief Gary Somero, who currently serves in the positions proposed to be combined but is planning to retire this summer, said that the time needed for them is far more than most people could support in a part-time role.  Somero estimated that he spends about 19 hours a week on Fire Department administrative duties, and 16 hours a week on building inspection and code enforcement, on average.

“I just don’t have time to do all that required of the positions,” Somero said.

Deputy Fire Chief Ben Hatcher said that there is a need for a full-time chief.

“All of us members are begging for this to happen. We need the help, and this is a way we can get it,” he said.

The Fire Department is also proposing acceptance of a used vehicle for rescue work, and to use $227,000 from the Fire Departemnt Capital Reserve to refurbish it. The truck was gifted to the town by an anonymous donor, and was formerly in the fleet for Groton, Mass.

Hatcher said one of the issues facing the department is an aging fleet, which includes three trucks in need of replacement within the next few years. He said new trucks now can cost up to $1 million, and the town has not been saving enough in reserves to cover the cost of purchasing three trucks in such a short span. The rescue truck, though in need of some repairs and refurbishing, will replace one of the outgoing trucks for the next 10 years.

All items on the warrant will be voted on during ballot voting on March 12 at the Mascenic Regional High School gymnasium, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.