GLENBURN – Residents voted at the annual town meeting Wednesday to approve the $1.8 million municipal budget and $6.5 million school budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

About 75 voters turned out at the Glenburn School on Hudson Road and heard a variety of articles related to the budgets, most of which generated little resistance.

The budgets already have gone through the school committee and Town Council and reflect a tax rate reduction of about 20 cents per $1,000 of property valuation.

Town Manager Carl Betterley reminded residents of that tax reduction and said it could have been even greater if not for the new homestead exemption, which allows eligible homeowners to exempt up to $13,000 on a single home on their tax bill instead of last year’s exemption maximum of $7,000. But the state is not fully funding the exemption this year, requiring towns to make up the difference.

“The budget as presented is a reduction in taxes,” Betterley said. “The new exemption saves the average homeowner about $250 per year, but this actually caused an 88-cent increase in the town tax rate, … so we could have saved even more.”

Residents also were required to vote by secret ballot in accordance with the new funding formula for the state’s Essential Programs and Services act. Both the town’s school and municipal budget were higher than the level that had previously been set by the state, but residents approved the spillover.

Part of the municipal budget included $32,000 from general funding to continue providing free Internet access to about 430 of a total of 1,700 households in Glenburn. The council had voted earlier in May to cut the Internet service, but after the public expressed concern, the vote was overturned.

Another amendment approved in May was to appropriate $30,000 for future construction of a fire department substation on Ohio Street. The substation may not be built for several years, but town leaders told residents Wednesday that it’s never too early to start putting money away for projects.

“Our intention was to put money into the budget so that when these projects go forward, the town will have to borrow less money,” Betterley said.

The municipal budget also set aside $135,000 for future construction of a new municipal building.