Bernardston passes $4.01M school budget in narrow 56-44 vote

BERNARDSTON — In just under three hours, 115 residents approved nearly every warrant article at Annual Town Meeting, including the town’s $4.01 million fiscal year 2027 assessment to the Pioneer Valley Regional School District, which is up 14.2%.

The bulk of Wednesday’s meeting focused on the Pioneer assessment. Discussion lasted more than an hour and saw two attempts at amendments, including a proposal to reduce the figure, but the $4.01 million was ultimately approved in a narrow 56-44 vote.

The first amendment, which was passed by voters, simply changed the wording of the warrant article to say the budget was recommended to the Finance Committee, rather than by the Finance Committee. Selectboard member Brian Hervieux said the change would reflect that the budget that was included in the warrant was exactly as proposed by the Pioneer School Committee, and that the Finance Committee was not in favor of it.

The Selectboard then moved another amendment proposing to reduce Bernardston’s assessment to Pioneer to less than $3.57 million.

School Committee Chair Melissa Gerry said that under state law, the town cannot amend the amount it is being assessed by the regional school district, and if the town appropriated less than the full amount, it would be considered a failure to pass the budget. She said failure to pass the budget would force the district to operate on a one-twelfth budget based on the current fiscal year’s figures and would result in numerous programs being cut.

“If this budget does not pass, here is what is going to be on the docket to be cut: preschool, Pioneer athletics, elementary behaviorists, elementary reading specialists, PVRS electives and PVRS extracurriculars,” Gerry said. “Our budget has already been cut significantly by cutting a school librarian, by cutting a director of teaching and learning.”

Resident Jim Trill said reducing the school budget to the proposed $3.57 million would “decimate the school district” and prompt families to send their children elsewhere.

“If we vote to decimate the budget for the school, we will not have a town,” Trill said. “It’ll run all of our young families out of town.”

Selectboard and Finance Committee members said they do not want to hurt the schools, but they have to be responsible for all taxpayers, not just families with children. They said the weight of the school budget, which makes up more than half the town’s total budget, does not leave much funding for other departments.

“Last year at our annual meeting, we voted for an increase in the school budget at 9.31%. This year, they’re asking for a 14.22% increase in the budget. I don’t know anyone in this room who’s income has increased by 9% and an additional 14.2%,” Selectboard member Ken Bordewieck said. “There is no way that we can, as a town, support this.”

Finance Committee Chair Jane Dutcher said the administrative costs in the budget have continued to increase while student enrollment has declined. She expressed frustration in what she described as the school district’s lack of willingness to work with the town to develop a reasonable budget.

“The administration has continued to increase, increase, increase as enrollment has continued to decrease. I can’t find any logic in that,” Dutcher said. “It’s not that we’re against education, but we need to do something about the hierarchy of the district and we need to find different ways to do things.”

Resident Patricia Szulborski commented that the budget is a good investment in the town’s children and their future.

“I found it to be extremely transparent, well-thought-through and it’s no-frills, and in doing that, they were also able to not cut direct services to the kids, and that’s what’s important,” Szulborski said. “The bottom line of the budget always looks scary as can be. But what are we doing it for? We’re doing it for the kids and the best gift that we can give our kids is a good, competitive education, and hopefully they’ll turn out to be good citizens contributing back to the community.”

After a lengthy discussion, residents voted 59-44 to reject the proposed amendment to reduce the Pioneer assessment to $3.57 million, and then voted 56-44 to pass the $4.01 million sum.

Town clock

The town chose not to vote on Article 20, which sought to appropriate $45,624 to paint the Town Hall clock tower, at the recommendation of the Selectboard. Selectboard Chair Brian Keir said the town is working with an engineer to determine whether cracks in the foundation warrant further repairs or whether a new building would be more cost-effective.

“Over the last few years, we’ve noticed some cracking and settling within the Town Hall. We engaged a structural engineer who came to study the building, and it led to some findings of the foundation settling in certain portions of the building, as well as some of the center line footings settling, which led us to say, ‘OK, why is that happening?'” Keir said. “We’re currently in the process of signing a contract with a civil engineer to determine, based on his best ideas, what it would take to stop the settling of the foundation of the Town Hall.

“Long story short, it’s more than likely going to involve moving everybody out of the Town Hall for a period of time to make the repairs,” he continued. “Once we get the report back from the civil engineer, more than likely we’ll be setting up a committee to see if it’s worth fixing up the Town Hall. It may be cheaper to build a new building.”

Voters asked how long the engineering study would take, to which Keir said the report would be complete by the end of the calendar year, and the town hopes to bring the matter back to Annual Town Meeting next spring, either to fund the repairs or create a committee to further explore constructing a new Town Hall.

While the town skipped over Article 20, residents did approve by majority Article 21, appropriating $8,873 to refurbish the face and hands of the Town Hall clock. Dutcher said the town has found someone to work on the historic clock, and the hope is that even if a new Town Hall is needed, the clock can be moved to a new location.

Medicare for All

Also sparking discussion was Article 34, a citizen’s petition in support of “An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts” (S.860/H.1405). The bill, which has come before the Legislature in various forms over the years, “would transition the commonwealth to a single-payer health care system by removing profit-driven health insurance companies as the barrier between patients and providers, and instead allow the government to reimburse health care providers directly,” according to the bill summary.

Louise LeGouis, who submitted the citizen’s petition article, said economic studies have indicated that the initiative could save the average resident $25,000 per year in medical costs, and it could save the town of Bernardston $100,000 a year on employee health insurance by cutting out insurance and allowing the state to negotiate with and pay health care providers and pharmaceutical companies directly.

“We’ve all heard tonight the issues with health care costs rising. It’s busting budgets — not just of our town — [and] causing cuts in personnel, but it’s across the state and it’s a very serious concern,” LeGouis said. “We can do better. … It’s time to tell the state we need real fixes. Don’t let the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies that are harvesting enormous profit allow our health care system to be a profit center.”

Residents asked how the proposal would create savings for residents when it would be funded by increased taxes, to which LeGouis said premium and deductible charges would be eliminated, and people would not be paying hiked fees to profit-driven companies.

The resolution passed by a vote of 35-20.

Voters unanimously passed all other articles on the warrant, including those that will now need to go to a ballot vote for final approval.

• Article 28: borrowing up to $1.08 million to buy a new fire engine, subject to a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion at a special election.
• Article 29: borrowing up to $3.99 million to buy a new Highway Department truck, subject to a Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion vote at a special election.
• Article 35: converting the town’s elected Recreation Commission to an appointed one.