LEVERETT — A $6.26 million fiscal year 2021 budget for municipal services, money to support continued work toward a solution to the contaminated wells near the capped landfill, and the purchase of a new excavator for the Highway Department highlight Leverett’s Annual Town Meeting on Saturday.
The 34-article warrant, which includes the election of town officials, will be taken up beginning at 9 a.m. outside the Leverett Elementary School. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is requiring the meeting to be held outdoors.
The $6.26 million budget is $107,460, or 1.7 percent, higher than the $6.15 million budget for the current fiscal year and, aside from contractual obligations, includes no new spending.
As in past years, the town will continue to work to find ways to correct the issue with the residential wells in the Teawaddle Hill Road neighborhood. If approved, a $14,263 appropriation from free cash will be used to explore a deep well solution, while an additional $10,000 will be used to fulfill a new state Department of Environmental Protection requirement for a one-time test for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances and other contaminants in those wells.
The largest expenditure is to borrow $227,500, which would require a subsequent Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion ballot vote, to buy and equip an excavator for the Highway Department.
For a new radio for the police and fire departments, $48,000 will come from the town’s stabilization account, and an additional $13,000 will pay for a new gas stove at the Leverett Elementary School.
Other spending, all from free cash, includes $13,000 for a new boiler at the public safety complex, $11,025 for repairs to the geothermal heating system at the town library, $7,000 to transfer town building phones to a voice over internet (VOIP), system, $6,900 to clean and repoint the Town Hall chimney, $6,700 related to a deficit in the police detail account, $6,000 to air-condition the server room at the elementary school, $4,600 for two sets of firefighter protective turnout gear, $2,950 to build a new evidence room for police, and $2,250 to provide a match for a grant for acquiring extrication equipment for firefighters.
The lone zoning article coming from the Planning Board would amend a bylaw to address temporary storage units and add new definitions for inns, storage units and microbreweries.
Leverett continues to be the only community in Massachusetts in which nominations and election of town officials take place from the floor of Town Meeting, rather than in a separate ballot vote. There are no known contested races.
Those who have announced they are running for re-election include Tom Hankinson for a three-year term on the Selectboard; Pete Sylvan for a three-year term on the Board of Health; Tom Masterton for a three-year term as constable; Ann Delano and Jed Proujansky for three-year terms on the Finance Committee; Chris Condit and Joan Godsey for three-year terms as library trustees; and Tom Ewing for a four-year term, and Steve Freedman for a five-year term on the Planning Board.
In addition, newcomer Jim Staros is seeking a three-year position on the Board of Assessors held by Cat Ford, who is undecided whether to continue.
Other positions available include a vacant one-year term on the Board of Assessors; a three-year position on the Finance Committee held by Sara Todd, who is not running for re-election; and three-year positions on the School Committee held by Tara Acker, who is not running again, and Craig Cohen, who is undecided about seeking reelection.