Grafton — Grafton’s annual Town Meeting deliberative session passed in the space of about an hour and with precious little discussion Saturday.

The meeting, which opened at 9 a.m. at the Millbrook Christian Fellowship and adjourned a few minutes after 10, was notable less for what it was than for what it wasn’t: a grueling nine-hour slog of the sort residents have become used to, where the town in past years has addressed dozens of petitioned warrant articles and floods of floor amendments aimed at cutting costs.

As opposed to prior years, when residents participating in the libertarian movement known as the Free State Project showed up in force to make their mark on the Town Meeting warrant, this time residents approved the first 13 of 15 articles with no debate at all.

The proposed operating budget stands this year at $1.05 million, an increase of nearly $57,000 over last year, according to budget documents. Rather than go line by line through the spending plan, as in past years, voters approved the proposal by default, sending it to the warrant without protest.

The only article to generate disagreement was a request to add $11,735 to the Grafton Public Library’s budget. The proposal, which arrived by petition, did not receive the recommendation of the Selectboard or the Budget Committee.

Librarian Deb Clough said the increase of roughly 80 percent over the current year’s $14,000 budget was necessary because the library for years had been underfunded compared with those in towns with similar populations and median incomes.

“We firmly believe that the library deserves an increase and adequate funding,” she said, but she also acknowledged concerns from townspeople over costs.

Clough introduced an amendment that would reduce the requested increase by $4,000, to $7,735, and voters approved the change.

Members of the Selectboard and Budget Committee spoke against the request, arguing that an increase of such a significant percentage was inappropriate given the cuts that other departments are making.

Nevertheless, the article passed, and will be included on the Town Meeting warrant.

Residents also cleared the way for a vote on a committee that would study the benefits and risks of employing a town administrator. Proponents said that using an administrator could reduce the Selectboard’s workload and encourage more people to serve in town government.

One vestige from the era of interminable meetings remained, however. After voters approved each article for the warrant, they voted to “limit reconsideration” on what they had just passed.

Town Moderator Travis Anderson said the procedural move was meant to prevent voters from returning later to what had been approved and proposing spending cuts.

“That has happened in this town before,” he said, adding that in some cases certain appropriations had been cut to a single dollar after many voters had left the deliberative session.

Anderson said the quick pace of Saturday’s gathering was mostly due to a dearth of Free Staters in the crowd, but he couldn’t speculate as to where they had gone.

Although voters approved all articles for the Town Meeting warrant, they still must cast their ballots for those requests and for elected officials on March 14. The polls will be open between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. that day at the fire station.

Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.