DURHAM

The town will have a new municipal public works department, but not a used fire truck, after residents weighed in Saturday at annual Town Meeting.

Adding its own crew will mean the town must issue $2.9 million in bonds to pay for equipment and staffing. Additionally, land will have to be chosen and acquired for the building to house the new department.

Private contractors the town previously relied upon to keep roads clear in winter and grass short in summer will have one more year each on their contracts while the department ramps up.

Defeat of the proposal to purchase a used ladder truck for the fire department means no further changes will be made to the town’s proposed municipal budget of $2.3 million — a 2.1 percent increase over the current 2012 budget.

The three-and-a-half-hour meeting decided 39 warrant articles and included a presentation regarding the public works proposal and an impromptu discussion about the schools’ budget — which no longer is part of the municipal budget.

Regional School Unit 5’s budget process has yet to be finished; the vote on its proposed $25.6 million budget is scheduled for June.

During municipal elections Friday, Deborah Larrabee and Jeff Wakeman retained their seats on the Board of Selectmen, garnering 129 and 138 votes, respectively.

Kevin Nadeau, Benjamin Love and William Morrill were elected to serve on the Budget Committee, and Michelle Ritcheson won a seat on the Regional School Unit 5 Board of Directors. jtleonard@timesrecord.com