MOUNT DESERT – Town meeting voters Tuesday increased the municipal budget by only minor amounts, debating but ultimately accepting the bulk of the recommendations of selectmen and the warrant committee.

Residents increased spending by $1,500 for the Northeast Harbor Library, for a total of $10,000, and awarded the Mount Desert Nursery School $5,000 for capital improvements, about $3,500 more than town officials had recommended.

The only other changes were boosting the public works budget by $5,000, at the request of Steve Smith of Otter Creek, so that the town could build a boat ramp this year rather than spread the funding over two years; and cutting nearly $10,000 from the sewer budget for computer software for the town’s anticipated new user fee system.

Selectmen intend to impose a sewer fee, but since the earliest the fee system would take effect is next year, voters decided the spending could wait.

Voters seemed fatigued by never-ending debate over a sewer fee and were eager to sidestep any in-depth discussion of the issue Tuesday.

Two hundred residents attended the town meeting, held at the elementary school, although the numbers dwindled as the evening progressed. The meeting lasted about four hours.

The municipal budget of $5.2 million is 8 percent higher than last year, while elementary education spending will increase 11.7 percent to nearly $2.5 million, and the town’s share of the high school costs will rise 3.5 percent to $1.8 million.

The amount to be raised in property taxes to support both the municipal and school budgets will increase $634,000 over this year, for a total of $8.3 million.

The total figures will change slightly because of the town meeting votes on Monday.

The estimated tax rate for 2003 is $12.25 per $1,000 in value, about $1 per $1,000 more than last year, according to town officials.

Although the school budget passed without changes, resident George Peckham said taxpayers eventually will not be able to afford education at the rate it’s been increasing in recent years.

He spoke his peace, but didn’t bother to make a motion to reduce school spending because he has been unsuccessful in each of the past eight years.

“It seems that the mind-set is ‘anything and everything for the kids,'” he said, noting that the elementary budget represents a per-pupil cost of $14,000, far above the state average.

Peckham said people who want to control school spending should not be considered anti-education, especially this year when the economy has stalled, the stock market has tanked and retirement and pension plans have lost significant value.

“I just think we need to be a little bit conservative,” he said. “There’s going to be a limit one of these days when we won’t be able to pay the bill.”

Spending increases for the school and municipal budgets have been blamed on increased personnel costs, continued large increases in health care coverage, and increased federal and state mandates that local voters must finance.