BUCKLAND — Saturday’s drive-in style Annual Town Meeting aims to be quick and efficient, with the town seeking approval of a 17-article warrant focusing almost entirely on financial articles.

Notably, the town is seeking approval of a roughly $1.7 million town operating budget — a $35,453 decrease from fiscal year 2020.

Annual Town Meeting will start at 10 a.m. at the Mohawk Trail Regional School parking lot. Voters will be directed to park in every other space and are expected to stay within the confines of their parking spot unless they wish to speak. The microphone will be sanitized between each speaker.

Votes will be taken by a show of voting cards.

The $1.7 million budget presented in Article 4 is a result of reductions across several departments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the warrant article explanation. There were increases, however, in trash and recycling costs, which resulted in a $18,169 increase in that line item, and an $8,000 increase in the town clerk’s office in anticipation of the state and federal elections this fall.

Town Administrator Heather Butler said the directive she received from the Selectboard and Finance Committee was to make sure the proposed fiscal year 2021 budget was based on the assumption the town would see a reduction in state aid.

“I looked at all the revenue sources the town of Buckland relies on — that would be unrestricted state aid, Chapter 90, Chapter 70, our local meals and rooms tax, our excise tax — … and reduced them across the board by 25 percent from the FY20 numbers,” she said.

Butler said the proposed budget, therefore, is based on those presumed revenue reductions.

“There are some schools of thought that say the 25 percent is more than what will be necessary, and there are some schools that say it won’t be enough,” Butler said. “We felt, for planning purposes, it was a good place to start.”

She noted there is an expectation the budget will be revisited in the fall to amend it as necessary.

In other business, Article 16 seeks approval to transfer money from an old Community Development Block Grant housing rehabilitation reimbursement line item, which would eventually be available to Buckland businesses for COVID-19-related grants.

“That would be about $20,000,” Butler said. “That is an important article for the businesses in Buckland.”

And finally, Article 17 authorizes the Selectboard to move forward with the acquisition of 47 easements associated with Conway Road transportation and improvement project. The parcels of land are located on or near Conway, Summer and South streets, and Conway Road.

The $10 million project is slated to begin in 2021, according to Butler. The acquisition of these easements is the next step in that project.

“We get a lot of complaints about the potholes on Conway Road, Summer and South,” she explained. “Every winter it gets worse.”

All attendees will be expected to wear masks, according to the Town Meeting document distributed to residents. The Board of Health will provide masks to those who don’t have them.

A full copy of the warrant is available on the town website at town.buckland.ma.us under “2020 Annual Town Meeting Handout.”

A rain date is scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. in the same location.

Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 263. Twitter: @MaryEByrne