Preston — Residents on Thursday sent proposed 2019-20 school and town government budgets to a referendum on June 11 with little discussion and no changes to either budget.

The June 11 referendum on the proposed $12.1 million school budget, a 2.37 percent increase from this year's spending, and the $3.9 million town government budget, with a 12.56 percent spending increase, will be the first townwide vote using the new polling place at Preston Plains Middle School. Residents at Thursday’s town meeting set the referendum voting hours at 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The question of setting the hours for the budget vote generated more debate than the budget itself. Resident Edward Gauthier said the extended hours could be helpful to people who accidentally go to the Town Hall, the former polling place.

Superintendent Roy Seitsinger said students will be gone most of the day June 11 for end-of-the-year school trips.

The approximately 50 residents in attendance Thursday had few comments or questions about the two budgets and none on the issues that dominated discussion at previous Board of Selectmen and Board of Education meetings and the budget public hearing. Three residents spoke in favor of forwarding the school budget intact to the referendum and none commented on the town government budget.

The town budget increase was driven mainly by a proposal by Fire Chief Tom Casey to hire enough part-time per diem firefighters to cover nearly all shifts, 24 hours a day with at least two paid, trained firefighters/EMTs. The lack of trained volunteers has reached a critical point, Casey argued during budget deliberations.

The added staff would bring the budget for paid part-time staff for firefighters/EMTs to $350,355 — a 208 percent increase over this year’s $113,700 total. Casey’s original proposal called for hiring one full-time firefighter along with the per diem positions, but the Board of Finance preferred to hire all per-diem, part-time firefighters to cover the shifts to avoid benefits costs.

The finance board initially cut the original proposed school budget by $200,000, but following the May 9 public hearing, the board restored $50,000 of that cut, bringing the total proposed budget to $12,111,999.

The proposed school budget includes hiring a part-time social worker for $31,415 for the first time. The school board supported the plan, with some members in favor of hiring a full-time social worker. Seitsinger believes once a part-time social worker is hired in Preston, the person’s worth will become apparent immediately, with student issues now being handled by school principals, the school psychologist and teachers. The social worker would have more flexibility to leave school grounds to handle issues and meet with families, Seitsinger said.

Seitsinger said he was pleased with the town meeting vote Thursday and said the budget has been "reviewed through a rigorous line-by-line examination of the entire spending plan" by both the Board of Education and the Board of Finance.

c.bessette@theday.com