Groton — The Representative Town Meeting has stopped, at least for now, an effort to give Groton voters the right to take budgets to referendum.

The RTM's rules and procedures committee on Wednesday asked the full RTM to request that the Town Council put an advisory question on the ballot asking voters if they want a charter revision to obtain the right to have a budget referendum.

The RTM voted against the request.

The Groton Town Council reviews the budget, then passes it on to the RTM for further review and a vote.

If residents don't like the decisions, they can talk to their elected representatives, but they have no direct say as to what happens.

Several nearby towns hold budget referendums including Stonington, North Stonington, Ledyard and Preston.

"It didn't really turn out the way we hoped but at least it's a message to the council that it's time to put an advisory question on the ballot to see whether the voters want a budget referendum," said RTM member Rosanne Kotowski, co-founder of the political party Groton Advocates for Tax Efficiency. "Whether they do it or not is up to them."

Kotowski suggested the RTM use its "power of initiative" — which allows it to force the Town Council to act on an issue — to establish a budget referendum if taxes or spending rise more than 2 percent in a given year.

But a town attorney opinion said the RTM does not have the authority to do that.

Rules and Procedures Committee Chairman Jean-Claude Ambroise said he learned that the town would have to change its charter to establish a budget referendum.

So the committee instead suggested the RTM ask the council to put forward an advisory question asking voters if they would support a charter revision commission in order to create a townwide budget referendum. The RTM refused.

If the request had passed, the advisory question would not have appeared on the November ballot because the deadline for referendum questions has passed. But it could have been placed on a future ballot, like during the presidential election, Ambroise said.

"The taxpayers are the people that have to foot the bill when all the federal and state revenues fall short ... I believe we should at least ask the voters what they would support," he said.

But RTM member Douglas Monaghan said the charter sets up the budget process, is very specific and was just reviewed in 2008.

"Somebody's got to pay the bills," Monaghan said. "I don't like it ... but I also like to have the police show up when I call."

No one likes paying higher taxes, but they don't say what services they're willing to lose, he said. The RTM also reviews every department budget individually. He questioned whether the typical voter would do that.

Part of the issue is a perception that the RTM isn't doing a good job trimming the budget, RTM member Archie Swindell said. He doesn't necessarily agree, but he said the RTM would benefit by looking at its own rules.

The RTM typically takes up each department budget separately, then arrives at a bottom line. It might be better to discuss the bottom line first, then review each department budget, Swindell said.

"I think our approach (having an RTM) is the best approach, but it needs to be fine-tuned," he said.

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim