WARWICK — Sixteen articles will come before Annual Town Meeting voters on Saturday, including a proposed omnibus budget of roughly $2.1 million that includes increases to town employee wages and stipends for Selectboard members.
Scheduled to start at 1 p.m., the meeting will be held on the town common behind Town Hall. Should there be inclement weather, there is a rain date of Saturday, June 12, at the same time and location.
Residents will be asked to approve a roughly $2.1 million omnibus budget for fiscal year 2022, 43 percent of which accounts for the town’s education expenses, according to the Finance Committee’s explanatory statement. Total education expenses of $933,536 include a $99,580 assessment to the Franklin County Technical School based on the October 2020 enrollment of six Warwick students.
Finance Committee members noted that a 4 percent increase in the town’s assessment from the Pioneer Valley Regional School District for a total of $833,956 — compared to the current fiscal year’s $800,166 — represents the largest increase in the budget. According to the committee, Warwick’s 2020 Pioneer school district enrollment included 19 students attending the high school, and 19 students attending Northfield Elementary School after the district ceased use of the Warwick Community School building.
Addressing the size of the Pioneer assessment increase, Finance Committee members noted the town has voted to leave the district “and planning is underway to make this (Warwick’s) last year as a member of that district.” The proposed budget also sees Warwick Community School expenses adjusted to match costs after a year of the town managing the building itself.
Article 11 on the warrant asks to raise and appropriate $20,000 to fund the Warwick Community School Improvement Account, which was created by a vote at Annual Town Meeting in 2004. Finance Committee members explained that several unanticipated repair needs, including urgent repairs for malfunctioning toilets, were discovered in the past year. Article 11 will ensure money is available to resolve known issues as well as unexpected needs.
The omnibus budget article, Article 6, would also amend the compensation of elected officials. The Finance Committee recommends the Selectboard stipend be increased from $400 to $800 following a review of a Franklin Regional Council of Governments wage study that showed the Warwick Selectboard receives the lowest stipend of any Franklin County town included in the study — with the exception of Orange, whose Selectboard members had opted to decline their stipends at the time.
“Our (Selectboard) stipend has been $400 since 1981,” Finance Committee members wrote. “Even with this increase to $800, our Selectboard members continue to receive the lowest stipend.
“While increasing the stipend would merely be a symbolic gesture and would not begin to pay for the time that members put in each week, it could make a difference to an hourly wage person who had to give up paid work to serve on our board,” committee members continued.
After reviewing how Warwick’s pay rates compare to other small towns, especially those in Western Massachusetts, the Finance Committee also recommends all town employee salaries be increased by a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment. This proposal would exclude four positions with pay rates that the committee recommends increasing by $2 per hour.
“With the annual increases of the Massachusetts minimum wage, we feel it makes sense to increase the hourly rates for the four positions of town secretary, custodian, Board of Health clerk (and) police patrol officers by $2 per hour to reflect that these are skilled positions and should be compensated as such,” Finance Committee members wrote.
Town Coordinator David Young clarified this week that there is an error in the elected officials’ compensation figures that were included as part of Article 6 on the publicly posted warrant. According to Young, correct payments for the town moderator should be $140, tree warden should be $816 and town clerk should be $6,774. He said he plans to correct this error on the copies of the warrant to be printed for Annual Town Meeting, and will disclose the discrepancy to voters in attendance.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.
2021 ATM Warrant and Budgets by Zachary DeLuca on Scribd