A committee that is proposing a change in how Durham residents conduct their annual town meeting wants spending articles amounting to more than $50,000 to be voted on in a secret ballot, the town’s administrator said last week.

The Alternative Warrant Exploration Committee, which formed last July, proposes budgetary items to be included on the municipal elections warrant on the day prior to the traditional town meeting – making for two town meeting warrants. Administrator Ruth Glaeser said that she will compose the article once the committee comes up with its final recommendations, and residents will vote on the proposal at this year’s town meeting, Saturday, April 2.

Municipal elections are scheduled for Friday, April 1.

“The job isn’t done,” Glaeser said. “We’re going to write a synopsis of what they’ve come up with. They seem to be interested only in changing the voting on the biggest budget items, such as public works, the fire department and administration. The $50,000 limit would not include agreements such as bonds.”

Chairwoman Donna Church and others on the Alternative Warrant Exploration Committee have said that the expanded hours of a referendum-style vote – typically 8 a.m.-8 p.m. in Durham – would allow many more people the opportunity to vote on important financial matters. Committee members also say that people at town meetings, where raised-hand votes are the norm, are sometimes intimidated regarding a “no” vote on budgets that can affect their neighbors.

“I will write up the warrant articles,” Glaeser said. “We will have to go back to the committee to make sure we are on the same page.”

Church did not return calls for comments on the committee’s intentions.

During a Board of Selectmen’s meeting last month, Glaeser advised members of the Alternative Warrant Exploration Committee that if the change is made, a budget item on the town elections referendum would need to include a figure, and spaces for a yes and no vote. There is not yet a provision for what would happen if a budget item is voted down. The board discussed the possibility of settling on the previous year’s budget, or perhaps on an average of the last three years’ budgets.

Church gathered enough signatures last year to put an article on the April 4 town meeting warrant, asking residents if the town should explore “other means” of voting on the town budget, in the interest of including more people in the process. Voters approved the article, setting the process in motion.