BROOKSVILLE – Residents had approved all the warrant articles at the annual town meeting Tuesday, but balked at the idea of paying for emergency dispatching services.

Although there was some confusion surrounding the article for emergency dispatching and the request from Peninsula Ambulance Corps, which initially had included funding for their dispatching services, voters were clear that they didn’t like paying an extra fee to the county for the Regional Communications Center.

Overwhelmingly, they defeated the proposal seeking $2,632.13 for the service, after several town officials assured them that the RCC will still have to provide the service.

Fueling dissension is the way the RCC assesses towns for the service. The RCC bases fees to the towns on population. According to Jim Littlefield, chairman of the town’s budget and advisory committee, which recommended no funding for the service, the center has no authority to assess the towns.

Littlefield said that state Sen. Dennis Damon said there would be no change in service if the town did not provide funds.

“According to Dennis Damon, nothing happens. They’re required to provide the service,” Littlefield said. “They can ask for funds, but they do not have the authority to assess the towns for funds.”

The RCC promises that if you dial 911, you will receive the appropriate service, one man said.

“I don’t see how they can promise that and then fail to deliver,” he said. “If you called and asked for the Brooksville Fire Department and they said ‘no,’ you’d sue the bejesus out of them.”

Others noted that the county can assess the towns for that service and likely would do so. Budget Committee member Ruth Robinson said a recent ruling by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court supports the town’s position. That ruling says towns cannot be assessed separately for the service, Robinson said.

“The towns cannot be assessed separately from the county tax,” she said. “The county has the responsibility to take care of it.”

Selectmen said they had received a bill from the RCC and would decide how to respond based on the town’s vote.

In other action at the town meeting, voters approved the $1.4 million budget with little discussion. The school committee proposed reductions in the budget based on the town’s decision Monday to fund a million-dollar school renovation and addition project.

Some repair and maintenance projects needed to be done whether the addition proposal was approved or not, and were included in the school budget, according to Superintendent Mark Hurvitt. With approval of the construction project, funding for the repairs could be removed from the regular budget, he said.

That reduced the overall budget by $9,750, and dropped the overall budget increase from 3.6 percent to 3 percent, he said.