BUCKLAND — Should Annual Town Meeting be moved to a weekday instead of being held on the weekend?

At this year’s Annual Town Meeting, residents will be asked to consider changing the yearly schedule so Annual Town Meeting will be held on the first Tuesday in May, rather than the first Saturday. The meeting will be held Saturday, May 3, at 10 a.m. at Mohawk Trail Regional School.

For fiscal year 2026, the town is seeking voter approval for a roughly $5.9 million operating budget that represents a 6.7% increase ($368,140) from fiscal year 2025. The budget includes $689,774 for general government, $472,405 for public safety departments, $753,970 for the Highway Department, $163,677 for human services, $138,353 for culture and recreation, and nearly $3.33 million for education. For FY26, Buckland’s assessments are just shy of $3 million for the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, $30,000 for Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, and $304,752 for Franklin County Technical School.

“I did attend quite a few Finance Committee meetings and they did put quite a lot of thought into the budget,” Selectboard member Joan Livingston said during a review of the warrant earlier this month. “I think this is what we can afford.”

With Articles 7, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 15, voters will be asked to approve a $485,400 capital budget, which will cover wastewater treatment expenses, replacing the Mohawk Trail Regional School water heater, and roadwork projects, which will be paid using the town’s free cash and various stabilization funds.

“We’re gonna appropriate from free cash $148,700 to be placed in the departmental capital accounts,” Selectboard member Larry Wells said. “And that’s $80,000 for the highway truck loan, $75,000 for repaving, $10,000 for shared police capital expenses, $9,700 for Nilman Road debt repayment and $10,000 for the Buckland Museum improvements.”

Additional capital expenses include $40,000 for Town Hall repairs.

“This is for some immediate issues,” interim Town Administrator Pamela Guyette said. “Here’s some sagging under the Assessors Office.”

The Selectboard and Finance Committee voted to recommend all of the financial articles on the warrant.

Articles 21 through 26 ask voters to take a look at the town’s bylaws and consider amendments that would move Annual Town Meeting from the first Saturday in May to the first Tuesday; remove an exemption in the single-use plastics bylaw that has allowed public schools and certain nonprofits to continue using single-use plastics; and update the kennel licensing bylaw so dog owners must license each individual dog, rather than get a kennel license if they have more than four dogs.

Other bylaw revisions being proposed would change the town’s regulations on accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to be consistent with state law, thus allowing ADUs by right as long as they are smaller than 900 square feet. Another change would remove the term “mobile home” from the bylaws at the request of town counsel.

A citizen’s petition, brought forth in Article 19 by the Buckland Historical Commission, asks voters to appropriate $12,500 to match a grant the town commission has been awarded from the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The funding would allow the commission to hire an architectural and historic planning consultant who can help Buckland update its existing historical site records and get more town sites on the state’s historic registry.

Historical Commission Chair David Parrella previously said that since the commission was formed in the 1970s, more than 200 historical sites have been identified, but much of the work to record the properties was done by volunteers and is not consistent with current registry standards. Accepting this grant would allow them to update the town’s records and preserve more town history.

Selectboard and Finance Committee members said they believed it was a good project, but noted the town is up against its levy limit. The boards voted to not recommend the article.

“It’s really, really close. We only have about $5,000 surplus without having to raise taxes through an override,” Livingston said. “I don’t see how we can afford it, even though it’s probably a worthy project.”

According to Guyette, rather than pursue a Proposition 2½ override if Article 19 passes, the town would reduce the amount that is going into the General Stabilization Fund to offset the difference.

The full 26-article warrant can be found at tinyurl.com/BucklandATM2025.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.