COLRAIN — Residents will be asked to approve five articles at Special Town Meeting on Thursday, including one seeking to reduce the previously approved town operating budget by $7,300 to allocate that money instead to Mohawk Trail Regional School District.
Special Town Meeting will take place at 6 p.m. outside the Town Office at 55 Main Road. Residents are asked to bring chairs and to wear masks.
The $7,300 decrease to the roughly $1.7 million town operating budget that voters are asked to approve in Article 3 would come from the Highway Department Salaries line item, according to the warrant. The budget was originally approved at Annual Town Meeting in June.
Town Coordinator Kevin Fox said the money will then be used to help fund Colrain’s Mohawk Trail Regional School District assessment, which the town expected it would need to do.
“I think every town is dealing with that,” he said.
Fox said because the money has already been raised and appropriated, there will be no impact on the town tax rate.
“We had a retirement in our Highway Department,” Fox explained. “We funded the position, but didn’t replace the employee. We did that in anticipation of state aid possibilities being cut.”
He said the town, therefore, has a surplus of more than the $7,300 in that account.
Articles 1 and 2 on the warrant both pertain to a proposal to discontinue a portion of Cal Coombs Road.
“(Discontinuing) it was requested by the homeowner,” said Fox, who noted the road essentially leads to just one house. “It’s gone before the Planning Board — they’ve recommended it. It’s also gone to the Conservation Commission, which has recommended it with conditions.”
Article 2, then, asks the town to accept an easement granted to the town by the homeowner, Johnnie Chase, for town vehicles to use as a turn-around.
“It looks complicated when you read it, but it’s been in the works a couple of years,” Fox said of the warrant article. “We finally got a turnaround area that everyone seems to agree upon would work.”
A full copy of the warrant can be found at bit.ly/2FEPQUb.
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne