DEERFIELD — A new personnel bylaw, a shift to quarterly tax bills and the rescinding of $5 million in borrowing authority for road repairs are on the table Monday evening for Deerfield’s Annual Town Meeting.

The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in Frontier Regional School’s auditorium.

Voters will also be asked to consider a roughly $18.29 million fiscal year 2025 budget, an approximately 4.6%, or $806,143, increase driven by education and the anticipation of the departure of the town accountant and highway superintendent, on top of general increases.

“The school expenses are high, they’re a huge part of our budget. … This is in no way a slam against the schools because they are very disciplined,” Finance Committee Chair Julie Chalfant said at an April 18 information session. “They are in no way acting poorly, it’s just very challenging and the amount of money we’re seeing from the state is not increasing much. It’s a problem and it’s something we need to think about.”

Chalfant explained the expected staff retirements are causing a bump in the budget because the town wants to allow “some overlap, so we get the new person in and we get that person trained up and experienced before the old person leaves.” Staff salaries for new hires in recent years, such as the planning and economic development coordinator, the town clerk and the treasurer/collector, are also contributing. She also noted the town is spending a “high” amount of free cash on recurring expenses, which means capital expenses cannot be funded.

The first major item to greet voters is Article 4, which proposes removing the current personnel bylaw and replacing it with a modern one. This would include changes to personnel policies intended to streamline processes and provide mechanisms for removal of Personnel Board members if they miss too many meetings, as the town is dealing with a lack of board volunteers.

“This is a very old bylaw, it’s very outdated and, frankly, personnel administration needs to be managed much more quickly,” said Town Administrator Kayce Warren, adding that this creates a personnel policy manual, which is needed for “legal compliance.” “What we’re trying to do is create more flexibility. … We’re trying to make some changes that are thoughtful.”

Article 15 asks residents to consider shifting from biannual tax bills to quarterly ones, which would have due dates of Aug. 1, Nov. 1, Feb. 1 and May 1. Warren said the change would provide more stable cash flow to the town throughout the year — something it struggled with following July 2023’s catastrophic rain storms — and could also better help residents plan their finances. If approved, the quarterly tax bills would go into effect on July 1, 2025, which is the beginning of FY26.

The first two payments would be preliminary estimates based on a formula including the previous year’s tax rate and then the final two payments would be calculated using the current year’s tax rate.

“Deerfield heavily relies on its revenues to cover accounts payable and payroll warrants, and this year we saw this happen in real time,” Warren said. “All in all, we think it’s going to be a more stable cash-flow situation.”

Finally, Articles 19 and 20 address the storm damage the town suffered in July 2023, with the former requesting residents appropriate $600,000 from the general stabilization fund to pay for road and sidewalk repairs. The latter article asks residents to rescind the $5 million in borrowing authority voters approved at a special election in January — which was the second election held on the matter as one in December narrowly failed.

Selectboard member Tim Hilchey and board Chair Carolyn Shores Ness explained the town has spent approximately $2.36 million on road repairs and Deerfield has received $1.58 million from the state, which will be supplemented with $260,000 of storm damage relief from July 2021’s storms and, if approved, the $600,000 requested to be appropriated Monday evening.

If Article 19 is approved, residents will then be asked to vote to rescind the entire $5 million in borrowing authority.

“[The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency] helped us develop a $4.8 million damage estimate of emergency repairs that were needed. … We were asking the residents based on the MEMA estimate, so that’s where the $5 million figure came from,” Hilchey said. “I’m just really happy the state came through and we have enough money in our stabilization fund and we had some extra money from a previous storm and we can deal with this.”

Other articles on the warrant include:

■A citizen’s petition requesting the town petition the Legislature to lower the municipal voting age to 16 years old.

■An article requesting residents appropriate $179,600 from several sources for capital projects, such as air conditioning at Deerfield Elementary School and a replacement truck for the wastewater department.

The full Town Meeting warrant can be found on the town website at bit.ly/4di2lQA. A recording of the April 18 information session can be viewed at bit.ly/44fZqUy.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.