For Karen Coyne, Warner seemed like the perfect retirement town for her family. She and her husband bought a house on a dead-end road with seven other houses. And then for the past three years, they’ve seen double-digit tax increases forcing their friends and neighbors to consider moving elsewhere.

For Faith Minton, who has called Warner home for 45 years, the small town has provided a launching pad to involve herself in a dozen community groups – from the foliage festival to the Kearsarge Regional School Board.

When two select board members resigned from the board last summer, Minton was asked to fill a vacancy through this year’s Town Meeting. But after her few months on the board, she’s decided to seek another one-year position. Coyne is running against her.

In some regards, next week will mark an end to a time of turmoil. New select board members will be elected to fill vacant, and then appointed seats. Rent for the Warner Connects food pantry in the community center will be decided by voters.

But with another 11% tax increase also on the ballot – for an operating budget of $4.6 million – concerns about tax burden and divisiveness still linger.

Growing tax burden

Last year, Warner residents approved an 18.8% increase to the town’s operating budget. With another increase this year, the tax burden on residents is top of mind.

Since moving to Warner in 2019, Coyne has watched as residents plea for the select board and budget committee to bring costs down. Last year, she thought that she finally needed to act on it and ran for select board against current member, Harry Seidel.

“I figured I just can’t complain about it. I need to try and do something about it,” said Coyne. “Even if I can pay off my house, I don’t know that I can afford to retire here… we started to see friends and neighbors having to move out of their homes because they’ve been taxed out. It’s just devastating.”

In 2023, Warner had the 11th highest tax rate in the state at $31.72. Ten years ago, the town did not fall in the top 30 for tax rates.

“Our current leadership has let spending get out of control,” said Coyne. “We need a transparent and thoughtful review of our entire town financing and spending.”

At budget public hearings before Town Meeting, residents urged the select board to lower costs or risk pricing people out of town. Budget committee members pointed to passed-down costs from the state government, like employee benefits and school funding, as contributions to the increase. A decline in revenue in the aftermath of pandemic-era aid also does not help current budget pressures.

But some residents still are frustrated with these explanations. A citizen’s petition warrant article will ask residents to vote on a tax cap of 4% for future town budgets. Both the select board and budget committee voted unanimously to not recommend the article.

Tension in town

When Minton was asked to fill the vacant select board seat in July, her answer came from a gut feeling.

“I instinctively said yes I would serve,” she said. “Then I thought to myself, ‘What does that mean? How am I going to do this?’ ”

In her eight-month stint on the board, Minton has come to realize that her background in education helps her understand the inter-workings of the town and facilitate communication with residents. So, she decided to put her name on the ballot to serve another one-year term.

“I really came to the clarity that my focus really is how we function as a community, how the board functions, is responsive to residents, works to support other town employees,” she said. “I’m not running because I feel like I have an answer. But I feel like I can be a good participant and help keep things calm, keep things stable, and respectful.”

In the four decades Minton has lived in town, big decisions like the development of Exit 9 off of Interstate 89, the addition to the library and new fire station have come at the hands of voters. That should remain the case, she said.

But lately, as residents discuss issues and attend town meetings, she’s been surprised by the rhetoric with which people choose to address each other.

“Things are polarized. I don’t know whether that is just a trend from national, I’ve never recalled that in Warner,” she said. “So that’s going to be one of my focuses.”

The focus comes in the form of a code of conduct for meetings. Minton researched policies that are in place in other towns and the select board voted on a draft in December. But it never was fully implemented. Now with a new town administrator, Minton hopes to facilitate one for the town.

But to Coyne, the town tension stems from the current leadership.

“There’s a mistrust,” she said. “I hear from a lot of people in town that they feel they didn’t elect this current board and the board is making vital decisions.”

A drive through Warner reveals Minton and Coyne campaign signs on opposing lawns. Michael Smith, a current planning board member, is running unopposed for the three-year seat.

Coyne works with Smith directly as head of the planning board.

“We have a lot of like-minded ideas around keeping our residents in our homes and fiscal responsibility and transparent government,” said Coyne. “It didn’t seem to make sense to me to run against him when I think he would be a great addition.”

Then she watched Minton vote to recommend the proposed budget at Town Meeting, and it further cemented her desire to run against her.

“Another double-digit increase,” she said. “Those kinds of things just don’t hold true to what we need to be doing.”

Future of food pantry

The summer upheaval and select board resignations sparked from a debate over leases for tenants at the town’s community center. Now, residents will vote to determine whether or not the nonprofit should pay rent for the space or stay for free.

Since November, Warner Connects has paid $400 a month to lease space on the first and basement floors. It is the first time, since the organization formed in late 2020, that they have paid to use the facility.

Select board members, including Minton, justify the rent as a necessity due to the upkeep and maintenance of the building. In the 2024 budget, $20,000 is set aside for repairs.

“It’s not one or the other, we support the food pantry, we support people that are food insecure. And we can be responsible to the taxpayers and the residents by asking for reduced rent from all of the nonprofits that are in that building,” said Minton. “Seems fair to me. I really want to keep things fair and reasonable.”

But for Apryl Blood, the pantry coordinator, the services Warner Connects provides also alleviate pressure from the town’s welfare department.

“We’re helping offset the town’s burden from welfare by providing a service, not to the taxpayer, free of charge,” she said.

In 2023, 1,898 households visited the pantry with nearly 1,500 of those from Warner residents. They distributed just over 17,300 meals, which came out to $102,722 in food and commodities, according to their annual report. The annual rent of $4,800 comes out to the cost of 686 meals at USDA’s price point of $7 per meal.

Coyne was one of the residents who signed the petition to bring the warrant article to Town Meeting.

“When we talk about the good of those most vulnerable in our community, why would we take vital resources away from them,” she said.

Town Meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13.