TOPSHAM — With only a few questions and no debate on the floor, it took Topsham voters less than an hour Wednesday to approve as proposed all 20 town meeting warrant articles and a 2012-13 municipal budget of $8,072,250.

The budget represents a 1.8 percent increase over the 2011-12 spending plan. If the Sagadahoc County and School Administrative District 75 budgets remain as projected and the town’s property valuation remains the same, the town’s tax rate would increase an estimated seven cents from $16.15 to $16.22 per $1,000 of assessed value, according to Town Manager Cornell Knight.

With 251 registered voters — 3.8 percent of the town’s registered voters — the Mt. Ararat High School Commons appeared more packed than during some past town meetings. Many people attended from the nearby retirement communities The Highlands and Highland Green, to support funding for overnight staffing of the public safety building with per diem emergency medical technicians in place of on-call workers who must respond to the station before heading to calls, creating a delay in response time.

Funding to provide aroundthe clock EMS station coverage resulted in a nearly $90,000 increase for public safety in Article 5 containing the fire protection and rescue lines. Selectman Donald Russell told voters that selectmen had voted 3-2 to support the overnight EMS station coverage.

During an April 19 public hearing on the proposed budget, many residents, primarily from The Highlands and Highland Green, advocated for round-the-clock station coverage. No one addressed the issue at Wednesday night’s town meeting before voters passed Article 5.

The budget increase was also driven by the debt service, found in Article 2, in response to the ladder truck and plow truck the town recently purchased. The article passed with no discussion.

Article 4 dealt with capital projects and garnered no discussion either. The capital projects fund has budgeted $14,000 for computer replacements at the town office, $35,000 to replace a 1998 public works pickup truck, $9,000 for a zero-turn mower, $275,000 for paving of roads, $27,000 for a police cruiser, and an additional $50,000 for Bay Park drainage.

Article 7 asked voters to allocate $5,000 for the Topsham Community Fund, a new mechanism approved at the May 2011 town meeting to take the place of the former “Quality of Life Ordinance” funding mechanism that was tied to an equivalent of 5 percent of municipal tax increment financing revenue. This process involves a committee recommendation and normal budget review.

Voters passed the article with no debate. Russell told voters the money will go toward completing the next segment of the bike path — 3,300 feet stretching from the town office down Route 196 toward the Topsham Fairgrounds.

An ordinance strengthening the town’s dog control regulations to allow police to enforce the code passed, as did three other proposed ordinances.

Voters approved amendments to the Historic Overlay District. The new language merges the five existing Historic Overlay districts and clarifies boundaries so the entire properties fall within the overlay district. It also recognizes the difference between historically contributing and non-contributing structures and provides separate sets of standards for each.

Voters approved a comprehensive rewrite of Topsham’s existing sign ordinance. Town Planner Rich Roedner said the first sign ordinance was adopted in 1993 and since then the town had made more than 35 changes to it.

Proposed changes at the last two town meetings were not approved and voters asked town planners to take a holistic approach in reviewing the entire ordinance.

The major changes, Roedner said, are that the standards in all zones are differentiated. The multiple sign use tables were simplified and merged into a single table; definitions were cleaned up; temporary signs were eliminated as were the provisions for sign bonuses; and a provision for eliminating long-term non-conforming signs was created. Electronic message signs will be allowed only in the mixed use commercial district where the Topsham Fair Mall is located. This does not include lots directly along Route 196.

Russell applauded the Planning Board and Roedner for their work developing these new regulations, adding, “This is an ordinance that cries to be passed.”

Voters also passed a subdivision ordinance amendment that, according to Sue Spann of the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee, follows the recommendations in the town’s comprehensive and natural areas plans, “with respect to how subdivisions should be treated to better protect the town’s natural resources while providing rural land owners more flexibility if they choose to develop their land.”

Voters also agreed to accept a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant on behalf of the Topsham Housing Authority to purchase two buildings for work force housing.

Town meeting participants did not need to vote to increase the state-mandated maximum property tax levy limit known as LD 1.

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