The Finance Committee approved a request to transfer $4,300 from the town's reserve funds to the town clerk's account during its Wednesday, November 16 meeting.

Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva contacted Town Administrator Mark Andrews to make the request because the database needs to be updated for the upcoming elections and the census being recorded. The order for the update came from the Secretary of State's office.

Andrews said the expense was unforeseen when planning the budget and therefore he considered it an "emergency," making it eligible to use funds from the town's reserve account, which is used for unforeseen expenses such as these. There is currently $135,000 in the reserve account.

The Finance Committee voted 6-0-1 in favor of the request, with David Trudell abstaining because he wanted to defer action on the request, saying that he would like to see "more paperwork," such as next month's expense account, before he made a decision.

Committee member Donna Bronk agreed that she would have liked to have seen a "better breakdown," but added that it was an unexpected expense.

"$4,000 is a lot of money on a slim budget," Bronk said. The town clerk's total budget is listed as $145,084.