Martha Bodnarik isn’t willing to budge on certain things. She keeps her house in Warner warm even if her heating bill is high. But when she’s in the grocery store, she tried to cut costs anywhere she can.

These necessary trade-offs come as inflation outpaces increases to her Social Security.

“I used to love having beef two to three nights a week. I don’t really have beef anymore,” she said to fellow residents Wednesday night. “I’ve learned to like my vegetables and chicken and sometimes just a whole lot less of everything.”

As a long-time Warner resident, she wondered if it’s time for the town to start making trade-offs, too.

“Perhaps we should all look at tightening our town belt a bit more in recognition of how many people in this town have already tightened their own belt about as far as they can go,” she said.

Town meeting began with an amendment to cut the $4.6 million proposed operating budget by nearly 4%. Bodnarik and others admitted they were conflicted.

The cuts narrowly failed by seven votes before the budget ultimately passed unchanged. For a house valued at $300,000, the town portion of the tax bill is expected to grow by $792 next year– without factoring in school, state and county increases.

For John Leavitt, a longtime Warner resident who proposed the budget cut, the motion was a message.

“This is our town. This is our budget,” he said. “Do we continue with this high rate of increase every year or do we encourage the change?”

James Gaffney had a similar thought. With a citizen’s petition, he proposed a tax cap that would have restricted future town spending to be within 3.8% of the previous year.

To him, the basic priorities – roads, fire, police, sanitation – should come first. After that, the town can evaluate what else to address within reason.

“What this will do is essentially more closely mimic the way each of us budget. We calculate, we look at how much money we’re earning each month, and then we figure out what we can spend that money on,” he said. “We take care of the priorities first, and whatever’s left over, we look at spending on the nice-to-haves.”

In 2020, the town portion of the tax rate ranked 26th in the state. In recent years, the rate has steadily climbed, hitting 14th in 2023. Last year, residents saw a brief break in their tax bill after the town sold a cell tower and used the cash for a brief windfall.

“Remember, I stood before you last year and said, ‘We cannot continue to have these substantial operating budget increases,” said budget chair Michael Cutting. “It’s not sustainable for us in town, the constant progression of this operating budget.”

This year, increases were held to less than one percent within the operating budget. A near 15 percent increase to the capital budget – the pool of money the select board has to authorize purchases like a new fire truck – meant the total proposed spending was $5.1 million.

Coupled with a loss of revenue, the spending increases translated to a roughly 29 percent increase to the town’s tax rate.

Sarah McNeil has seen the same conversation resurface time and time again at Town Meeting in her near 50 years in Warner. To her, a tax cap is an irresponsible Band-Aid on a bullet hole, with true cost driven by a lack of state funding for public education.

“When you go to vote next time for your representatives in Concord, I hope you think long and hard about how they’re spending their money and what will come back to our schools and our towns,” she said. “That’s really where the issue is, not with the town.”

Voters stuck down a citizen’s petition that would have decreased annual contributions to the conversation fund.

For Karinne Heise, it was an emotional proposition. She loves to cross-country ski on the trails set by snowmobilers. Warner’s downtown is complimented by the natural beauty of the surrounding area, which isn’t the case in every community.

“That outdoor recreation is something that you can’t put a price tag on,” she said. “I feel so lucky to live in a town where we have a vibrant image center, restaurants, shops, library school at the same time that we’re surrounded by acres of woods, fields, streams, and that’s what makes this place special.”

A strong focus on conservation also hedges against fears of future development, preserving the part of Warner people like Bodnarik moved to the town for.

“When we have to go by these lots and see where they have been just scrubbed down to the bare bones, and know that we’re going to see more ugly housing go up in what was the lovely rural wooded area we moved to this town for it’s wonderful to know at least there will be some money going back to the Conservation Commission to try to go out there and preserve a little more of this land,” said Bodnarik.

The meeting marked the end of Faith Minton’s time on the select board, after she stepped in to fill an abrupt vacancy in July of 2023 and then was re-elected to a one year post last year. For Harry Seidel, who asked Minton to join the select board that summer, her willingness to listen to residents and ask  questions has helped right the ship during a time of turmoil. Her dedication to the town was like that of a Martlet, a mythical bird without feet that continues to fly.

“It’s an allegory for continuous effort and it’s an archetypal example of grit and grace,” he said. “Faith has been my compass, gently correcting my path when necessary. She answered the call and served you all with dedication to our community.”