VAN BUREN – Residents told their Town Council on Wednesday night that it will have to live with budget cuts made in September.

Residents voted 111-23 Wednesday against a request by the majority of the Town Council for another $25,430 to cover expenditures it believes will be overdrawn by the end of the fiscal year next June 30.

The Town Council wanted to use $10,257 the town received from the Maine Municipal Association as an insurance rebate and $15,173 from an overlay account to make up the $25,430 request. The move would not have increased taxes in the municipality.

“There was a lot of discussion,” Town Manager Larry Cote said Thursday. “Voters were told by Town Councilor John Rossignol that their cutting of my salary was illegal.

“It made no difference, it didn’t matter,” Cote said. “They just would not understand it had nothing to do with property tax money.”

Town Councilor Charles Clarke looks at it differently than Cote. He said the Town Council will have to face the town meeting vote at some point and live within the budget approved in September.

“There is no emergency,” Clarke said Thursday. “The majority of the Town Council voted to take money from other accounts to pay accounts cut by voters.

“Voters said in September that the town manager’s account would be funded with $32,000,” Clarke said. “They are taking money from other accounts to pay the town manager his full salary even if they don’t have the money.”

Clarke said that is improper because they are not following the mandate of the people at the town meeting.

“Last night’s special town meeting was a man-made problem,” Clarke said. “Even the MMA [Maine Municipal Association] said the town manager’s salary can be cut, if money is not there.”

While the Town Council had negotiated a $44,200-a-year salary for Cote’s position, voters only approved $32,000 for the position in September.

Clarke said money was taken from other accounts to pay the town manager his regular salary.

The Town Council, with the exception of two councilors, and Cote believe there will be shortfalls in as many as 10 accounts where cuts were made during a special town meeting on Sept. 19.

The new special town meeting was approved by a 4-1 vote of the Town Council last month, but only three members signed the official warrant. Theodore Smith and Clarke, the two members who are often on the short end of 3-2 votes by the Town Council, did not sign the warrant.

The accounts where shortfalls are expected are in the town’s accounts paying for audits, office supplies, advertising, postage, town manager’s salary, expense account and travel costs, a secretary for the Town Council, town clerk’s expenses and travel, election expenses, heating, and police retention reserve costs.

Clarke claims money was taken from those accounts to make up Cote’s full salary.

“When we run out of money to heat the town office, we will have to close it and the building down,” Cote said. “We will shut the doors and employees will have to go home.

“It could very well cause other damages to the building, being without heat,” he said.

The cuts made at the special town meeting in September cut taxes down by three mills from a budget approved in June. Before the special town meeting, the municipal budget was some $205,000 higher than a state-mandated property tax limit.

The property tax commitment, including schools and the town’s share of the Aroostook County budget, is $2,262,445.25.

All the cuts were made in the municipal area of the budget. The school budget was approved separately by residents of the three-town SAD 24. The Aroostook County budget is set by commissioners and the Aroostook County budget committee.

Residents agreed in September to use $50,000 of surplus money, from prior years, to bring the commitment down further than the $200,000 cut at the Sept. 19 special town meeting.

The $50,000 from surplus lowered the tax rate by one mill. Cuts made at the special town meeting made up the other 3.25 mill rate cut.