Newbury, Vt. — Voters on Tuesday approved a $598,000 general fund budget and went along with town officials who had decided a new plow truck wasn’t needed immediately after all.

Town Meeting attendees also received updates from civic groups working to create a town forest and provide fiber-optic connectivity.

The purchase of a new fire truck, approved by voters in June, accounts for the bulk of what could be an 11 percent increase in the amount to be raised in taxes for general fund expenses.

Michael Thomas, chair of the Newbury Conservation Commission, presented a plan to create a town forest, which would encompass Woodchuck and Tucker mountains. The Leach family, longtime owners of a tract of land on Tucker Mountain, have offered to sell it to the town at a fraction of its market value.

Sydney Lea, another participant in the initiative to create the forest, described it as a “golden opportunity.”

The forest would provide “all kinds of wildlife corridors and protect some pretty important wetland,” he said. “It ensures public access for perpetuity.”

A committee looking to bring a high-speed telecommunication system to Newbury also provided an update on its progress. Member Rick Hausman described improving internet access as an economic imperative, and announced a plan to hold a special meeting later in the year to discuss the project further.

At the outset of an otherwise generally harmonious meeting, several voters expressed concern over a dilapidated house on South Main Street, across from the Tenney Memorial Library.

On Tuesday afternoon, the house’s yard contained several junked cars and a toilet seat emblazoned with the phrase, “Here’s to all neighbors who want to (defecate) on me.”

The town has levied fines against the house’s residents, Selectboard chair Alma Roystan said, and they were recently served with an eviction notice. “A lot of it is out of the town’s hands,” Roystan said. “I honestly think the board has done what it can do.”

Yet some voters are tiring of the eyesore.

“Any time you’re trying to get someone out of a residence it’s really hard,” Hope Hutchinson, a resident of Wells River, said in an interview.

The only article voted down on Tuesday would have provided for the purchase of a new, dedicated plow truck.

Bob Beaulieu, Newbury’s road foreman, initially promoted the replacement truck as an opportunity to improve the town’s response to winter storms; however, after concluding that it would be less expensive to have the current truck’s engine repaired and to continue using it for another year, he urged voters to reject the article.

Voters did, however, approve the purchase of a three-quarter-ton pickup truck that could be outfitted with a plow.

Voters passed all other articles, most unanimously.

Voters increased the town’s annual allocation to the Mentoring Project of the Upper Valley from $1,000 to $1,500. Already included in the town’s general budget are recurring allocations to such organizations as the Clara Martin Center, a mental health agency, and Stagecoach, a low-cost transit service.

The article that drew the most dissent was a proposed $2,500 expenditure in support of the nonprofit Vermont Congregational Home Inc., a church-sponsored retirement home.

Newbury treasurer Mary Collins questioned whether the home was truly a public institution and urged fellow voters to reject the article. Emmy Hausman suggested that the organization could, instead of requesting a line-item in the town budget, petition Newbury for tax relief.

“I don’t feel this whole process is organized in a way I feel comfortable with,” voter Claude Phipps said of the article. “It sounds more like a contribution to a capital-improvement plan.”

Don Waterman was elected town moderator at the beginning of the meeting, and presided for the rest of it; uncontested elections for a Selectboard member, auditor and lister took place throughout the day.