Article 4: Town Operating Budget
The Town Operating Budget, as its name suggests, pays the town’s expenses for the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. Those expenses include familiar town services such as the Fire Department, Police, and libraries; those services, and their proportions, are shown in the ‘pie’ graph. Warrant Article 4 authorizes the Town to spend taxpayer money to fund those services.
Select Board member David Martin presented Article 4 to the Town. The Article as presented to the Meeting differed slightly from the Article that was printed in the warrant, by including a transfer of funds from the Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) fund and from the Cemetery Trust fund. Those additional transfers were done to meet the budget requirements in the difficult upcoming financial year. Asked about the OPEB transfer, Mr. Martin said that the annual payment to the OPEP trust would be made, and that the funds used for FY 2025 would be made up by additional future payments. Article 4 was approved by over 75% of the Town Meeting voters.
Article 5: Town Capital – Public Works, Public Safety and Public Celebrations.
Mr. Martin also presented Article 5 to the town; the Article asked for funding for a list of projects including street and traffic safety, Fire and Police department equipment, assessor’s office data collection, town infrastructure planning, and July 4th activities. There was no substantive discussion and the Article passed on a voice vote.
Article 6: Town Capital, Infrastructure, Design and Construction
Article 6, presented to the town by Select Board member Dean Charter, also requested capital spending but for larger expenditures, all of which have been discussed at Select Board meetings. These are: the present Department of Public Works (DPW) fuel station (at 14 Forest Road, behind the transfer station); a replacement ladder truck for the fire department; a traffic safety project at the intersection of Prospect Street and Main Street; and storm water management infrastructure upgrades.
The DPW facility provides fuel for town and school vehicles and has reached the end of its projected life. A transition to electric vehicles often arises during discussion of this project; the fuel station will still be needed because there are many vehicles for which no electric substitute is available. The current ladder truck is nearing the end of its useful life; a ladder truck is needed due, for example, to taller buildings or buildings that are obscured by trees. There is a 3-year delay between order and delivery, and so it is important to order the replacement truck as soon as possible. The Prospect and Main intersection has been the site of many crashes and its upgrade has been a priority for years. Finally, town storm water management infrastructure – for example bridges and culverts – may not be an obvious necessity, but their failure could be costly and potentially life-threatening. Debt funding for these larger expenditures was approved by an 85% to 15% margin.
