More than 40 people at the town meeting Saturday approved an estimated $415,000 municipal budget.

Residents voted to raise $24,809 for the Sweden Volunteer Fire Department Association; $800 to support Lovell recreation programs; and $900 to support the Charlotte E. Hobbs Memorial Library.

Voters also decided to take $10,000 from surplus to fund capital projects on state aid roads.

"We ended up taking more money out of our surplus than we hoped," said Selectman Bill Jones. "It would have been better to appropriate the money in our eyes, but the town didn't see it that way. They voted to take the risk for one year. It will probably will be OK."

Residents also voted to decrease the money needed to maintain winter roads by $25,000, leaving a total of $150,000.

"The last few weeks have been warm, so we dropped it to $150,000. The winter road fund goes up and down. Last year was pretty bad," Jones said.

The budget reflects a considerable increase over last year – about 12 percent, Jones said.

"Over half of our yearly budget goes to the schools. What we do today doesn't make a whole lot of difference because we have no control over the school budget. It goes up every year," Jones said.