For the second time in as many years, voters at Monday’s Annual Town Meeting rejected a request to raise money for the purchase of a new truck for the fire department.

Fire Chief Tom Joyce requested the town spend not more than $540,000 to buy a new or used pumper truck to replace a 1999 pumper that periodically breaks down.

If the article were approved, voters would have later been asked in the meeting to include the measure as a ballot question for a proposition 2 ½ debt exclusion. The cost, if the override passed, would have been an additional $18.48 per year for the average taxpayer with a home worth $400,000.

The Finance Committee did not support the measure.

Committee member Jeff Dickerson said a truck is likely needed. However, the committee thought Joyce didn’t provide a well-researched proposal.

“Nobody on the [Finance Committee] knows anything about a fire truck. So, we have to rely on the department heads to educate us,” Dickerson said. That included asking Joyce for prices, documentation and other information regarding a new truck. The committee follows a similar for all major capital purchases.

Dickerson said committee members became “alarmed” when Joyce was late in getting information to the committee. A discrepancy in the trade-in value of the old truck gave committee members pause, too.

According to Dickerson, Joyce said the trade-in value would be $60,000. Later in the process committee members were told that value would be $3,000.

“When numbers move like that we have to ask what’s going on,” Dickerson said. He said voters should value the committee’s procedure.

“If you vote ‘yes’ you’re sending a very strong message to everyone in town that it’s OK to circumvent a process that serves this town well,” he said.

Joyce and Finance Committee members have been at odds lately. In a local publication, committee members were quoted during a regular meeting saying that Joyce hadn’t collaborated with the town leading up to Monday’s vote.

Joyce defended himself in front of Selectmen last week and asked for an apology.

At the start of the Town Meeting, Finance Committee Chair Alan Minard said the article was “mostly right,” but didn’t convey the board’s intentions.

“To be clear, there was no threat to embarrass our chief,” Minard said. “When we believe a request is poorly defined or un-needed we are willing to make the necessary recommendation and are willing to back it up with facts.”

The committee recommended the department do more research and return with a new proposal for Special Town Meeting in the fall.

Several firefighters said the aging truck is a potential safety hazard. They urged voters to approve the measure.

“More than once this truck has stopped working and we’ve had to call a tow truck. I was fortunate that I didn’t have two men in a burning building,” said Brooks Wilson. A firefighter on the department since 1986, Wilson is a lieutenant on the engine.

Pumper trucks increase water pressure drawn from the town’s hydrants. Depending on the hydrant’s location the pressure in the water system may not be high enough to support firefighting operations, Joyce said.

Problems with the current truck include rust, poor suspension and high maintenance costs, estimated to be about $7,000 per year.

“Do we need a new fire truck? Our gut says probably yes,” Dickerson said. “But we need to be smart in how we spend our money.”