BUCKLAND — Voters at Saturday’s Annual Town Meeting will consider creating a West County Senior Services District, enacting a series of bylaw changes and approving a roughly $5.03 million operating budget for fiscal year 2023.
The meeting, which will consider 34 articles in all, will be held at 10 a.m. at Mohawk Trail Regional School.
The proposed budget represents a $205,439 increase, or 4.3%, over fiscal year 2022.
“During FY22, the coronavirus pandemic and global supply chain disruptions continued to affect federal, state and local economic conditions nationwide, and Buckland was not spared from those impacts,” the Finance Committee’s budget memo reads. “The federal fiscal stimulus funds helped our town, but looking ahead in our planning, we face continued economic uncertainties exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, dramatic spikes in energy, and other costs and rising interest rates.
“Yet despite those issues, or perhaps because we’re getting used to navigating in this fog, we are slightly more optimistic about the foreseeable future than we were at the outset of the pandemic,” the memo continues. “We had an increase in new growth this past year and anticipate more growth in FY23, but the increase in the town’s revenues continues to be modest and places a significant constraint on our operating budget.”
Total school assessments of $2.97 million represent a $151,783 or 5.4% increase, partly driven by the increase in students attending Franklin County Technical School, which is up from eight to 18. That will cost the town an additional $113,591 compared to the current fiscal year. More than 90% of the total school assessment is from the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, which has increased by $13,192 or 0.5% over FY22.
Voters will also be asked to approve elected officials’ salaries at $43,766, a 2.5% increase; 3.5% cost-of-living increase for town employees; and an increase of $1,000 or 20% to provide more resources for the tree warden.
There will be a decrease in the highway salaries line item based on four positions in that department instead of five. Board of Health expenses are also less based on a decrease in the Cooperative Public Health Service’s resource needs from pandemic levels.
Other financial articles include:
■$324,458 for the town’s share to operate the Shelburne Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant due to a personnel expense increase to meet a state Department of Environmental Protection’s requirements and add one part-time person. Operational services have decreased.
■A $92,000 wastewater treatment plant capital expense, the third and final payment for the Conway Street sewer system project associated with road reconstruction.
■Debt service items totaling $159,325: one payment for the Town Hall renovation project ($22,500) and short-term debt interest payment for the highway garage ($136,825). Both are debt excluded.
Numerous amendments to town bylaws are proposed after study by an ad hoc committee that included Town Clerk Karen Blom, Finance Committee member Dena Willmore and Moderator Phoebe Walker. They include:
■Changing the date of the town election to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June. Historically, newly elected officials take their seats July 1, the start of the fiscal year. The town has learned that is incorrect and they should be seated immediately. Because the annual election is before Annual Town Meeting, and the ad hoc group felt strongly that warrant articles should be presented and defended by those who created and/or approved them, the request is to move the election to after Town Meeting.
■Making verbiage changes to clarify how a secret ballot is supposed to work, which is that a voter can request it and that is voted upon. If that vote passes, then the article for which the secret ballot was requested can be voted upon via paper ballot.
■Making changes to some appointed/elected positions, including reducing the Finance Committee from six to five members so there is an odd number; change the tree warden post from elected to appointed; and change the moderator’s term from one to three years.
■Accepting the authority granted in the Municipal Modernization Act of 2016, allowing a town to adjust speed limits in certain areas without prior approval from the state Department of Transportation. If passed, streets/areas affected must be determined and accepted by the Selectboard. The ad hoc panel found some through roads in residential or densely populated rural residential areas where the speeds have become excessive. This will allow the town, if it wishes, to reduce the speed limits in those places.
■Accepting the authority to allow the town to designate certain areas, such as libraries or commercial districts where there are numerous shops, as safety zones that can be posted with a decreased speed limit.
Article 29, which pertains to establishing a West County Senior Services District, is recommended by the Selectboard. The Finance Committee also recommends the article, with one abstention.
Proponents say that forming a new West County Senior Services District among Shelburne, Buckland and Ashfield will give the three-town consortium more leverage in securing state grants. It will also give the towns equal ownership and an equal voice in how elder services are run.
To view the full warrant, as well as budget information, visit bit.ly/3kHyW8m.