ORANGE — With the annual town meeting a ways off in June, the town has scheduled a special town meeting next week for a slate of mostly financial transfers from the town surplus. Proposed spending from the surplus or “free cash” line totals $246,086.12, with the largest items a $75,000 transfer to savings, $87,500 to fill a snow and ice deficit and $23,659.12 to pay for a judgment against the town in favor of Morais Concrete Service. Selectmen have said that the company should not be paid for unfinished work, but that the cost of fighting it would exceed the judgment.
The meeting is to convene Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Mahar Regional School auditorium.
Other items on the Free Cash tab include $15,000 for retroactive pay to the clerical union, $15,000 for technology expenses, $10,000 for a town employee compensation study, $10,000 for Hayden Street design work and a $9,927 deficit in the police gifts account.
The warrant also includes two significant transfers from the fire department wages budget to pay for new turnout gear, hoses and other expenses. The transfers are offset in part by the use of a grant that can be applied only to wages.
You can reach Chris Curtis at: ccurtis@recorder.com