PRINCETON — Budget numbers have Princeton officials potentially delaying the annual town meeting.
The Select Board was slated to vote at its May 1 meeting, after The Landmark went to press, on delaying the town meeting, possibly to June 11, shifting the voters’ work from the initial May 14 date.
“We are right up against Proposition 2½ with the school budget and PFAS being the big budget drivers,” Town Administrator Sherry Patch said.
The current budget for PFAS Engineering and Monitoring services, a $473,000 item, is one of the major pending concerns.
“We are hoping to receive Department of Environmental Protection approval to reduce sampling from quarterly to semi-annually, which will reduce the budget by $83,000 to $390,000 for fiscal 2025, which will be help,” she said.
With numerous towns having significant budget issues, and many turning to Prop 2½ overrides to avoid budget cuts, Princeton is working hard to avoid putting an override before voters.
The warrant for the town meeting does not include actual sums in many of the articles, using the traditional “a sum of money,” but explanations for each item detail the amount, which would be included in motions at the meeting.
Most of the articles are relatively routine, including small sums, such as the $50 the town is required to give to the library for books under the terms of the Deed of Gift. Others include expenses such as vehicle leasing and a match for the Mass Trails grant the town received.
Voters will also decide whether to impose a local meals excise tax under state law.
But one nonroutine expense would be allocating funds to pay for costs associated with the Sept. 11, 2023, flooding that hit Princeton.
Voters could also weigh in on making speed limit adjustments by accepting state provisions that allow towns to lower limits in certain situations.
The current year’s town budget is $12,738,180, with significant cost increases from salaries to purchases affecting the figure voters will be asked to approve at the town meeting to fund the coming year’s spending plan.
