ASHFIELD — Annual town meeting voters gave the town permission to raise the tax levy limit with a $120,000 override at the ballot box and through budget approval on town meeting floor. This will translate into an estimated 53-cent increase (3.3 percent) on the current $16.44 tax rate.
They also approved all requested school expenses, including Mohawk’s $2.1 million assessment, and the voters also approved the three amendments to the Mohawk Trail Regional School District agreement, as follows:
One article cleaned up obsolete details from the original 1993 agreement and added preschool assessments to the town assessment formula.
Another article would make it possible for Rowe to rejoin the district, spelling out the assessment formula, capital cost-sharing and school committee composition and voting power, if Rowe joins.
The third article would allow future amendments to the Mohawk regional agreement to be changed if they received a two-thirds majority vote by member towns at annual town meeting. Currently, regional agreement changes require a unanimous vote from all member towns, which school officials say doesn’t allow for any flexibility in these times when enrollment is decreasing and costs are rising. However, Heath voted against the two-thirds amendment change, which means it can’t be approved, even if seven towns vote in favor of it.
Ashfield approved the following budget items for the fiscal year that begins in July: Ambulance costs, $66,233; General Government, $376,551; capital costs, $90,000; public safety, $172,159; cultural/recreational, $80,075; sanitation services, $149,413; health services, $11,150; Highway Department, $501,050; human services, including senior center cost, $42,300; employee benefits, $167,975, debt service, $135,880; and sewer costs, $147,816.
The town also voted for a third year to set aside $20,000 to repair the steeple on the Town Hall, which is expected to cost $80,000.
They also voted to start a Broadband Development Account by raising $60,000 in taxes to start it. Town officials said having the money ready for broadband would enable the town to get started on broadband work sooner and, if nothing else, would mean the town will have to borrow less money, and pay less interest when it comes time for the fiber optic build out.
Using $14,393 available from grant program income, the town authorized creation of a Pipeline Opposition/Mitigation Account to be managed by the Selectboard for expenses related to the opposition or mitigation of the project now known as Northeast Energy Direct. Townspeople overwhelmingly supported this, in case the suspended pipeline project should resume or morph into a similar project, perhaps with a new name.