Tiverton Budget #1 Passes By 165 Votes

After a day with already , the results are in for the financial town referendum and Tiverton voters chose the Budget Committee's proposal by 165 votes.

As of 9 p.m., Budget #1 received 1,493 votes and Budget #2 received 1,332 votes. The approved fiscal 2012-13 budget raises the tax levy by 2.6 percent and the tax rate is $18.90.

Town Clerk Nancy Mello said there were 2,951 ballots cast out of 11,575 active voters, which is an approximate 25 percent turnout. She said there were about 100 voters who did not vote on either budget proposal but voted on the resolutions.

To get a sense of the turnout compared to the financial town meetings of the past, Mello said the contentious 2010 FTM had 1,026 voters turnout on the first attempt, and 1,354 the second time. And some years, Mello added, she'd be on her cell phone trying to get enough voters to show up to the gymnasium to make the 301-person quorum.

(Editor's Note: The Town Clerk's Office still needs to review the totals from voided ballots Wednesday morning. The property tax rate will also not finalized for about a week or so since the town wide revaluation is still being completed, according to the Tax Assessor's Office.)

Post updated 1 p.m., May 16.