CHARLEMONT — Facing budget requests that would add $291 per year to the average tax bill, annual town meeting voters scrutinized, argued and voted by paper ballot on several line items of the town’s $3.2 million omnibus budget.
Because only one article — the town’s operating budget — was addressed, the rest of the town articles are to be addressed at the continued annual town meeting on Tuesday beginning at 7 p.m. in the Hawlemont Regional School.
Debate on the town’s operating budget and school increases took up almost 3½ hours Tuesday night, but in the end, voters approved the basic spending plan. The biggest spike in the fiscal year 2017 budget was an overall 9 percent increase in education costs, which comprise $1.9 million of the $3.2 million budget.
For the coming school year, Charlemont will pay an additional $90,000 to tuition more students to the Franklin County Technical School; the Hawlemont Regional Elementary School assessment increased about 6 percent ($43,586), and Mohawk’s 2.6 percent assessment increase.
There was also lengthy debate about whether the longtime ambulance director’s $6,440 salary was equitable, given that the fire chief now gets an $8,440 salary. With a paper ballot vote, residents raised the ambulance director’s salary.
Several articles will be taken up when the meeting resumes Tuesday. They include a proposed 3 percent recreation tax for customers of commercial recreational businesses — Berkshire East, Zoar Outdoor and Crab Apple Whitewater Rafting — to help pay for ambulance services, since the town needs more staffing of its volunteer ambulance service. Town officials have said the nature of these businesses can place a burden on the ambulance service.
Voters will also consider a 0.75 percent meals tax for restaurants, as a way to raise town revenues, and will be asked to approve borrowing $376,150 to pay for a new highway truck, police cruiser, a used rescue truck for the Fire Department and other firefighting equipment. The money to repay the loan is to be raised through a debt exclusion, which would temporarily raise the tax rate above the town’s 2½ percent levy limit until the loan is paid off. If the debt exclusion is approved, voters will go to the polls to vote on it as a ballot question.
Voters will be asked to spend $54,000 from the town’s stabilization account to pay 25 percent for the cost of design, engineering and construction of Mountain Road bridge, which was damaged by Tropical Storm Irene. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is to pay 75 percent of the cost.
The town will also vote to create a new capital planning bylaw, so that town officials can better inventory and plan for capital repairs, and on revisions to the zoning bylaw for the Village Center District.
Dianne Broncaccio can be reached at:
dbroncaccio@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 277