HEATH — Annual town meeting voters Saturday gave the Mohawk Trail Regional School District budget their approval and adopted a regional agreement change that adds preschool costs to the member towns’ assessment.
But they rejected an amendment that would allow future district agreement changes to be made if only six out of the eight member towns approve them. Also, Heath postponed voting on agreement changes that would make it possible for Rowe to rejoin the district as a secondary school member town. If Rowe is allowed to rejoin as the district’s ninth town, approval of the previous amendment would have allowed district agreement changes to be made by a two-thirds majority, rather than unanimous approval.
The Selectboard and Heath school officials had warned Mohawk that they could not support the change from full district support of regional changes to a two-thirds majority. But a strong majority of residents agreed with town officials that enacting regional agreement changes through a two-thirds vote could be a disadvantage for the minority towns that don’t agree.
“The regional agreement was passed by the towns because everyone agreed it was good for all the towns,” said Heath school board member Ken Rocke. “This amendment could be good for two thirds of the towns, but bad for the others.” The examples Rocke gave were if two-thirds of the district towns voted in favor of ending inter-district school choice, which has brought more Mohawk students into the sparsely populated Heath Elementary School. Another example might be a change in how town assessments are calculated.
“We think it undercuts the benefits of working for, and finding solutions, for all of the towns,” Rocke added.
“If you have consensus, nobody loses,” said resident Thomas Rabbit. “What they’re looking for is the ability to ram something down someone’s throat.”
Under the rules of the current regional agreement, if one town defeats a measure, it fails for the whole district. Heath didn’t decide Saturday whether to approve or reject an amendment change that would allow Rowe to join the district. Some asked why Rowe didn’t have the amendment on its annual town meeting. Another questioned why the district would ask a ninth town to join, if eight towns can’t always agree with each other.
Heath approved a $2.1 million town budget and the requested $795,523 assessment for Mohawk. Also appropriated was $108,142 for the Franklin County Technical School assessment. The budget approval will raise the tax rate by about 71 cents, for a projected rate of $21.22 per $1,000 valuation. For a homeowner with property valued at $150,000, the taxes next year will go up by $106, to $3,183.
A petitioned article for the town to rescind last year’s annual town meeting vote to authorize the borrowing of $4 million for a new public safety building was defeated by a vote of 28 in favor to 78 opposed. The Selectboard explained that local Legislators were working on securing a state grant for half the cost, and that withdrawing the borrowing authorization would send a signal to the state that Heath wasn’t that interested in the new garage. Also, questions were asked about why the town was to pay $5,5000 for land for the proposed public safety complex when the town doesn’t have the money for the project. The Selectboard said the town’s decision to buy the land was separate from the vote to borrow money for the public safety complex, when there had been a $2 million state grant offered to pay for half of it. They said the $5,500 was the town’s first payment on the land, and it would be needed if state funding is available to help with the safety complex cost.
The town showed support for WiredWest by volunteering to contribute $1,000 to help the nonprofit, collaborative cover its costs while it negotiates with state broadband officials. Also, the town voted to send a resolution to state officials, directing the Governor to direct the Massachusetts Broadband Institute to work with WiredWest or other town representatives to create a plan for wired broadband that the town could accept by June 30.
The town also voted to start an “assessor property tax mapping stabilization account” with $30,000 transferred from General Stabilization. Town officials are seeking a grant that might cover the remaining $30,000 needed for this GIS (graphic information system) map.