SHELBURNE — Voters approved their share of the Mohawk Trail Regional School District budget after more than an hour’s debate Tuesday night.
The $2.1 million assessment, approved 49-21, would add $1.25 per $1,000 valuation on the town tax rate. The Finance Committee recommended turning down the assessment, which represents a 6 percent or $123,000 assessment increase.
In a handout, the Finance Committee said school enrollment has continued to decline, yet “the School Committee and the Administration have not reshaped the school significantly to adjust to the reality of this decline. This NO vote is intended to send a strong message to the School Committee that it MUST move ahead energetically with its redesign of Mohawk … rationalizing building use and transportation, tightening costs, slimming administration and maintaining a strong teaching core,” said this report.
Mohawk officials said the budget request represented a 3.3 percent budget increase overall, but was a “below level service” budget, because of less money coming in from the state.
In the end, voters approved the school assessment by a vote of 49 in favor, 21 opposed.
Town voters supported a $295,292 capital improvement project, to remove asbestos, replace flooring and do masonry projects at the Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School.
Shelburne and Colrain were among the first towns to vote on proposed changes to the eight-town Mohawk Trail Regional School District Agreement. For these changes to be enacted, all Mohawk member towns would have to have town meeting approval. Shelburne approved all three regional agreement changes.
Residents voted yes on a Mohawk amendment that would allow regional agreement changes to be approved by a two-thirds majority of member towns — with six out of eight towns approving, instead of requiring a unanimous eight-town vote. Some residents felt the unanimous vote should be retained “so that every town has a voice.” However, others argued that every town still has a voice with a two-thirds majority, but no one town would have the veto-power it now has.
Townspeople approved a second Mohawk amendment to enable Rowe, a former Mohawk member town, to rejoin the district as a Grade 7 through Grade 12 member town, like Hawley or Charlemont. Selectboard member Joseph Judd said the towns have nothing to lose by inviting Rowe back into the school district.
Residents also approved an amendment that cleaned up obsolete language in the agreement, going back to 1994, and adding preschool costs to town assessments, to be based on a 5-year enrollment average.
With the school assessment approved, the overall, general budget request of $3.98 million represents a 4 percent increase over the $3.83 budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30.