LEYDEN — Broadband payments, continued funding for the Avery Field pavilion and proposed large-scale solar bylaws are top items to be discussed during Monday’s Annual Town Meeting.
Selectboard member Jeff Neipp said he and Chair Bill Glabach have been working with the Finance Committee to plan for the upcoming Special and Annual Town Meetings. The back-to-back meetings will be held at Town Hall starting at 6 p.m.
The Special Town Meeting, which will be held first, has a warrant with just seven financial articles that are all recommended by the Selectboard and Finance Committee. The Annual Town Meeting, which will be held immediately after, has a warrant with 21 articles.
A copy of the Special Town Meeting warrant is available at bit.ly/2SxqBK9. A copy of the Annual Town Meeting warrant and proposed fiscal year 2022 budget is available at bit.ly/3vrN88u.
If approved, the fiscal year 2022 budget will represent a 2 percent increase over the current year’s $1.8 million budget, according to Municipal Assistant Michele Giarusso. Additionally, Neipp said Leyden’s assessment for the Pioneer Valley Regional School District budget, approximately $801,218, is a $48,000, or 1.29 percent, decrease from this fiscal year.
According to Neipp, one of the Finance Committee’s recommendations is for a 3 percent pay increase for town employees, as represented by Article 2. Neipp said he feels the increase is fair, “given what other towns offer across the county.”
“One of the other highlights this year, I think, is broadband,” Neipp said of the warrant articles. Town officials are hoping to pay down the roughly $1.07 million debt from broadband construction costs.
There are three articles related to the broadband system. Article 17 asks voters to raise, appropriate or transfer $63,000 for payments toward broadband debt, and Article 18 asks voters to transfer $138,500 from the Broadband Construction Fund to put toward the broadband debt. Additionally, Article 19 asks for $139,622 to be appropriated to operate the Leyden Broadband Enterprise Fund.
At last year’s Annual Town Meeting, voters approved approximately $30,000 to demolish and replace the Avery Field pavilion. This year, Article 11 asks voters to approve an additional $10,000 for the project. Neipp explained the added expense is a result of nationwide increases in material and construction costs. He said the project hasn’t been started yet, and town officials have not used any of the $30,000 approved during the 2020 Annual Town Meeting.
Article 21, the final article on the Annual Town Meeting warrant, asks voters to adopt a large-scale solar bylaw. A public hearing on the proposed bylaw is being held Wednesday, June 16, at 7 p.m. at the Town Office building in the former Pearl Rhodes Elementary School at 7 Brattleboro Road.
The large-scale solar bylaw can be viewed online at townofleyden.com/n/11112/Solar-Bylaw.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.
newsfile_11113_2021-6-21_STM_Warrant (1) by Zachary DeLuca on Scribd
newsfile_11114_2021-06-21_ATM_WARRANT_FY_22_ by Zachary DeLuca on Scribd