The town of Morrisville now has to come up with a new budget by next week, after rejecting a hotly contested version tonight.

Here's a breakdown of what needs to happen: to comply with state regulations, the town needs an approved budget by Monday.

The mayor and commissioners will meet again tomorrow at 6 p.m. to try to come up with a passable budget.

The budget rejected tonight would have raised property taxes, and caused such an outcry more than 200 showed up to complain at a public hearing last week.

It all boiled down to the 19 percent tax hike.

People said it was simply too much, especially with economic conditions we're facing right now, where the housing market's getting worse and gas prices are climbing higher on a daily basis.

The opposition may have come a little late, but Morrisville's Board of Commissioners heard it loud and clear.

To a rousing round of applause, the board voted unanimously to disapprove the proposed budget.

"We are supposed to be the stewards of the people," said Commissioner Mike Snyder. "That's what they elected us for. They expect us to represent them fairly. They expect us to use their money soundly, and we listened to what they had to say."

Now the pressure is on for town manager John Whitson to come up with something new, and come up with it quickly.

"The staff will be prepared to respond to whatever guidance the board chooses to give us," said Whitson.

"I like Morrisville. I really do," said Morrisville resident Roy Smith. "But sometimes you can live above your means, and I think that's what happened. I think they need to really go back and see where they can really cut things that we don't need."

Whitson is already warning commissioners that a revenue neutral budget will be the end of all town-sponsored events like Day at the Park, and could also mean that some Morrisville employees would lose their jobs.

Commissioners aren't sure exactly what they want for the final budget yet; they'll hammer that out tomorrow.

The other interesting thing from tonight's meeting was the proposal to change parts of the town's charter; that got postponed, and they'll revisit it in July.