Warwick’s Annual Town Meeting will be held Monday at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. The proposed omnibus budget for the 2019 fiscal year is $2,090,960, a 0.65 percent decrease from the current fiscal year’s budget of $2,104,662. While education expenditures will increase from $937,963 to $981,826, a 4.7 percent change, municipal government expenditures will decrease from $1,028,751 to $1,027,228, a 1.5 percent change.
Besides a decision on the budget, voters will address a proposed amendment to the Pioneer Valley Regional School District Agreement that would be the first major restructuring of the School Committee since the agreement was established in 1991. The amendment would reduce the committee from 12 members — three from each of the four member towns — to seven: two members from Northfield and Bernardston each, one member from Leyden and Warwick each, and one “at-large” member from any of the four towns. It would also impose a term limit of 12 consecutive years, after which a member could not be re-elected for three years; and would restrict district employees from serving on the School Committee.
Warwick Town Coordinator David Young, who also serves on the School Committee, has said that he supports the amendment. However, the amendment must be approved by at least three of the four member towns in order for it to go into effect. Leyden will not vote on the amendment at its town meeting, and Bernardston’s Selectboard has not yet decided whether to put the proposed amendment on the warrant for Bernardston’s town meeting.
Also connected to the school district before Town Meeting voters: a supplemental appropriation to correct the deficit that the district incurred through its school lunch program is being voted on. Warwick would pay $8,487 per year for the next three years, representing 9.43 percent of the total $270,000. The appropriation would be made only if the other three towns approve their portions at their respective town meetings. In the warrant article: “This appropriation is made … with the strongest advisory expectation that there will be no recurrence of further lunch deficits in the future.”
Also notably, Warwick must vote to accept the new Fire Station building as a donation from the Warwick Firemen’s Association, the current owner of the building, in order to complete construction of the building using town money that was set aside for that purpose. Most of Warwick’s firefighters have backgrounds in professional construction, so the Selectboard’s plan is to pay them their normal rate as town employees to complete the work. So far the Firemen’s Association has been holding fundraisers to pay for materials, while its members did the construction work as volunteers. However, the Firemen’s Association has been unable to consistently fund the project. Fire Chief Ron Gates and the Selectboard are of the opinion that once the town takes ownership of the building, construction will be complete by the end of the year.
Another article proposes a new zoning bylaw on storage of “incomplete vehicles.” First offense would be a ticketed warning, second would be a fine of $25 per vehicle beyond the one allowed, third and subsequent offenses would be a fine of $100 per vehicle in excess of the one allowed. After a ticket is issued, one month would be allowed for removal before a follow-up ticket could be issued.
There are also two proposed amendments to articles from previous town meetings that are more restrictive than necessary and so are preventing the town from progressing with two projects. The first would remove a reference to a Mack truck, as the town is planning to trade said truck for a GM truck. The other would remove references to the Hampshire Council of Governments in regard to an electrical supply aggregation program, so that Warwick may be able to try a different but similar program now being organized through the Franklin Regional Council of Governments.
The rest of the articles have to do with funding.
Limits would be imposed on expenditures from the revolving funds for health inspections, burials, public hearings, plumbing and gas inspections, cleaning, the Forestry Committee, dogs, fire inspections, the Planning Board’s zoning program, highways, electrical inspections, the field driver, the zoning board of appeals, the tree warden, recreation, elections.
Unrestricted funds would be transferred in order to reduce the tax levy for the coming fiscal year.
The enterprise funds for broadband and for the transfer station must be approved, even though they do not require any other funding.
Another article calls for adding $25,000 to the stabilization fund, and $18,300 would be spent on: Fire Department equipment, public safety equipment, town hall improvement, painting the library’s exterior.
Other appropriations that would be funded by property tax are for the Warwick Community School Improvement Account, the revaluation account, the land monitoring fund, the landfill monitoring fund, town account audits, and household hazardous waste expenses.