SHELBURNE — By approving a Police Department budget big enough for two towns on Tuesday, roughly 90 Annual Town Meeting voters opened the door for a formal police-sharing agreement with neighboring Buckland.

For decades, the two towns have shared reserve officers and mutual aid police services. If Buckland Town Meeting voters also back the police budget request on Saturday, the police department merger could provide better coverage for both towns, according to Police Chief Greg Bardwell.

“This has been on the burner for 15 years,” said Bardwell, who has also served as Buckland’s chief this past year.

Bardwell mentioned the police reform laws of 2020 require more training and certification than in the past. The two police departments now have five full-time officers between them, but cost-sharing will enable the towns to hire two more full-time officers.

“Shelburne’s not going to see drastic changes, other than we’ll be more consistent and relying less on State Police,” Bardwell said.

If Buckland backs the merger, Shelburne would pay 51% of the $617,987 budget request. If Buckland nixes the plan, Shelburne’s surplus budget appropriation will be rescinded at a future Special Town Meeting.

Voters also gave their blessing to spending $111,000 for a 27-kilowatt solar array on the south-facing metal roof of a future Highway Department pole barn. Last year, voters approved $100,000 to build the pole barn for highway equipment storage, said Selectboard member Andrew Baker. The power generated on the 20-by-80-foot rooftop could result in $240,000 in energy savings, he said.

The Mohawk Trail Regional School District’s $25 million budget request — which includes a $2.73 million Shelburne assessment — drew the longest, angriest debate of the night, because costs have gone up while enrollment has dropped. The school district is seeking a $1.4 million budget increase, which represents a 5.7% hike in Shelburne’s share of the bill.

The Finance Committee recommended a “no” vote, asserting that Mohawk Trail’s expenses for grades seven through 12 rose by 28% over the last five years, while its enrollment has dropped by about 30% over that time.

School officials asked why the Finance Committee focused only on the high school, without including the elementary school enrollments. They said most of the increase was for salaries and that Mohawk Trail’s costs are comparable to that of other regional school districts.

Several residents argued that Mohawk Trail’s rising costs are “unsustainable.” They said they’d had this same conversation last year, and still haven’t gotten satisfactory answers about how the district can rein in costs.

Others argued that not providing enough money could weaken the school district more. They said many students that live in the district are now choosing to attend out-of-district schools.

“We still have Mohawk Trail Regional School bleeding students,” commented Tricia Yacovone-Biagi. “You wanted to increase the budget last year, and we barely approved it.”

School Committee member Julie Dubreuil said she had voted against the budget proposal and would support an amendment to vote on last year’s town assessment of nearly $2.6 million. However, the amendment to lower the assessment was defeated.

Voters ultimately said “yes” to the $2.73 Mohawk Trail assessment, but “not now” to a large block of regional agreement amendments proposed by the district that would revise the funding formula for town assessments. Should the town assessment formula change, it would better align with the state’s funding formula by factoring in School Choice students and residents who opt to attend a charter school. These articles came to the town last minute, and were several pages long.

The Selectboard recommended voting the three warrant articles down, so that more clear, concise articles could be presented at next year’s Annual Town Meeting.

The town will establish a Community Preservation Committee that will review proposals for town improvements using Shelburne’s Community Preservation Act revenues and matching grant money from the state.

The town also backed an affordable housing bylaw pitched by the Planning Board that would reuse undersized lots owned by the town for affordable housing.

Other articles approved by voters include:

■$76,886 for Mohawk Trail’s capital budget.

■$6,000 for a new DS200 ballot scanner to read paper ballots and tally results. (This will speed up election results, but voters will still get to use the town’s beloved vintage 1901 ballot box that “dings” when each ballot is inserted.)

■Transferring $333,596 from the town’s free cash into the Stabilization Account.

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