GILL — The second half of Gill’s Annual Town Meeting will consider a slate of financial articles, including a $2.65 million budget that avoids a Proposition 2½ override by using stabilization funds to help cover cost increases in education, health insurance and fuel.
The Monday, June 8, meeting at 7 p.m. will pick up with the final 13 articles that the Finance Committee spent Thursday night discussing. This discussion also included a formal vote to cancel the tentative Monday, June 15, override vote that was in the cards as the budget was being developed.
The main articles up for votes on Monday will be Article 11, involving the omnibus budget; Article 12, the Gill-Montague Regional School District assessment of $2.14 million; and Article 19, asking to use $71,050 from Capital Stabilization for a new wood chipper.
Article 17 to transfer funds to Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB), Article 20 to move free cash into stabilization accounts and Article 21 to use free cash to reduce the tax rate will all be passed over, due to a delay in the certification of free cash from fiscal year 2025, according to Town Administrator Ray Purington.
Purington said it’s anticipated that free cash will be submitted and certified before the end of the month, and a Special Town Meeting is tentatively set for Monday, June 29, which will incorporate the funds back into the FY27 budget.
This year, the omnibus budget is up from the fiscal year 2026 budget of $2.34 million, as departments were all directed to present minimum budgets to maintain existing services.
According to the warrant, this is an “unprecedented” use of stabilization as revenues have not met the necessary expenses the town is incurring. An override was considered, but was avoided by using the stabilization that has been saved up for a “proverbial ‘rainy day.'”
The town’s assessment to the Gill-Montague school district is up by $163,760 from FY26, as the overall $25.8 million budget for the school district increased by 3.1%. The warrant explains how this is driven by enrollment changes and increases in the minimum contribution established by the state.
Between the increases to the Gill-Montague and Franklin County Technical School assessments, which combine to create an overall education budget increase of 6.6% in Gill, the warrant explains that this budget seeks to use $92,000 from the Education Stabilization Account to avoid the override.
“I do think we ought to have a conversation about that once the budget season is over,” Finance Committee member Tupper Brown said Thursday regarding the agreement Montague and Gill share for town assessments.
The only capital request is for a new wood chipper to replace an existing 1985 wood chipper that does not have safety barriers. Finance Committee member and Treasurer Peter Turban explained that the wood chipper is a “liability” based on its lack of safety features, and it is not being used.
