Preston ― More than 50 residents at the annual town meeting Thursday agreed to keep the proposed 2023-24 town and education budgets unchanged and send them to a May 25 referendum from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Preston Plains Middle School. .

The Board of Finance on May 2 asked the Board of Education to cut its initial proposed budget by $300,000 and the Board of Selectmen to cut $100,000 from the town government budget. The school board cut $250,000, and said the town is anticipating receiving an additional $50,000 in revenues for the school budget.

The selectmen at the time cut $66,500 in spending and told the Board of Finance the remaining $33,500 could be covered by state grants and federal COVID-19 recovery grants.

Several speakers led off Thursday’s meeting supporting the school budget as presented, each receiving applause. Residents made no changes and sent the $14.5 million budget, 8% more than the current budget, to the referendum vote.

The $4.9 million proposed town government budget, a 7% increase, received similar support from the audience. But resident Andy Depta said he disagreed with the philosophy of using state capital improvements grant money to offset expenses in the budget.

Depta also attempted to cut the $50,000 in the town budget for “future wages.” That amount was recommended by a consultant who studied town positions and found some salaries and hourly pay rates need to be increased.

Kayla Thompson, Board of Finance member said the funding in the budget came as the town recently lost Parks and Recreation Director Amy Brosnan to a similar position in Brooklyn. Thompson said Preston would not be able to find a quality candidate for the $45,000 allocated for the position.

“The town employees have been grossly underpaid for years,” resident Bill Legler said. “That $50,000 needs to be in the budget.”

Residents at an April 9 budget public hearing objected to the original budgets, complaining that the budget increases came after many homeowners saw their property assessments increase with the recent revaluation. Some residents told town officials they expect tax increases of more than $1,000 due to the revaluation.

Resident Michael Clancy said Thursday he was among those objecting to the initial budgets. He said he now supports both budgets after they were reduced.

The projected tax rate for the proposed budgets is 23.24 mills. Property owners can calculate their new tax bill by taking their assessed values, dividing by 1,000 and multiplying by the tax rate.

c.bessette@theday.com