Monday night’s Financial Town Meeting marked a record of sorts for Warren — the lowest turnout ever.

Just 43 taxpayers showed up at 7 p.m. to vote on the 2016-17 budget, 82 less than the 125 required to constitute a forum. The budget passed by default after officials waited 30 minutes for stragglers to arrive. None did.

The $23.8 million budget includes a $19.97 tax rate, which is unchanged from last year.

Monday’s budget meeting did not decide all fiscal matters for the coming year, however. All capital expenditures valued at more than $100,000 must be approved by voters at a separate Adjourned Town Meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, May 31. One of those capital items, an approximately $20 million project to rebuild Warren’s Wastewater Treatment Facility, will need additional voter approval. The Warren Town Council has directed Warren’s legislators to place a question on the November ballot, asking voters for their approval of the project. Costly upgrades to the aging facility have been mandated by the state Department of Environmental Management.

One new addition to this year’s budget is a $2.6 million school reserve account. That was created after the Joint Finance Committee ordered Warren to pay approximately $2.8 million less toward education this coming year than last, based on a re-interpretation of a state education funding formula; Bristol was ordered to pay $2.8 million more this coming year.

Warren town officials opted not to subtract that amount from the town’s expenditures this coming year, and instead will place the money in a new reserve account. It will be held there until Bristol’s appeal of that re-interpreted funding formula is resolved.

Monday’s low turnout could prove to be fodder for recent talk of doing away with the Financial Town Meeting. In recent months, members of the Charter Review Commission have asked officials and members of the public whether the town should do away with the budget-setting meeting and instead use other methods to decide the budget every year.