{"id":96219,"date":"2024-05-02T13:54:31","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T13:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=96219"},"modified":"2024-05-02T13:54:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T13:54:31","slug":"paxton-town-meeting-includes-town-budget-first-override-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/05\/02\/paxton-town-meeting-includes-town-budget-first-override-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Paxton town meeting includes town budget, first override vote"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Ken Cleveland<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

PAXTON \u2014 Anyone in Paxton not living under a rock, so to speak, is aware the town is looking at a Proposition 2\u00bd override to fund the town budget.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first measure of support for the override effort, and keeping town services from cuts, comes at the annual town meeting on May 6, when voters gather at 7 p.m. in the Paxton Center School. The annual legislative meeting, where the town budget and other business governing the town for the coming year will be decided, has 18 articles awaiting voters.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Voters will then decide the override at the town election on May 13, with polling from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Paxton Center school. With no contested races on the ballot, the override is the main item of interest for most voters.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The override and its success will affect many town operations, since the schools funding is in a separate article not contingent on an override.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The plan was to present two budgets at town meeting for the town side funding. One (Article 17) is contingent on the override passing at the town election. That is a budget of<\/span> $8,214,677<\/span>, with funds coming from<\/span> $6,474,677 <\/span>in taxes, $300,000 from the EMS receipts account <\/span>and <\/span>an additional <\/span>$1,440,000 <\/span>allowed by the override.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The second town budget (Article 18), which would not rely on the override, was worded so it would be voided if the override passes. But the state said it could not work that way, so another town meeting will be needed if the override fails.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The state Department of Revenue \u201cturned down our last warrant article,\u201d the noncontingent budget, Select Board Chair Julie Pingitore explained at the Select Board\u2019s April 22 meeting. \u201cSo we will have to pass that over at town meeting and reconvene a new meeting in the event (the override) does not pass.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That second budget, with reduced town services, would be considered at the second town meeting, which is potentially scheduled for June 3. That budget version would total<\/span> $7,374,726<\/span>, using<\/span> taxes of <\/span>$6,474,726<\/span>,<\/span> Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriations Account<\/span> funds of <\/span>$400,000, <\/span>and $500,000 from the town\u2019s so-called free cash.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The current year\u2019s budget is $<\/span>7,639,942<\/span>; it had also used various sources including free cash and ambulance funds to fund the fiscal 2024 spending plan.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Wachusett Regional School District budget assessment for Paxton (Article 16) is set at<\/span> $<\/span>7,786,547<\/span>, up from the current year\u2019s $<\/span>7,477,459<\/span>. It is not contingent on the override being passed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The other educational budget of <\/span>$595,009 <\/span>is <\/span>to pay its assessed<\/span> share of the Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical School Budget<\/span> (Article 15).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the articles awaiting voters are routine, such as approving revolving funds and road funding. Several articles would amend or replace bylaws, including those governing the revolving funds and the Council on Aging. A proposed bylaw change for the Recreation Commission would be passed over, as the Recreation Commission wants to do additional work on the proposal.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Money articles include: <\/span>repurpose the remaining funds <\/span>of $15,000 <\/span>previously appropriated<\/span> in a <\/span>2022 <\/span>article, to use for i<\/span>nformation <\/span>t<\/span>echnology<\/span> i<\/span>mprovements;<\/span> transfer <\/span>$9,200 <\/span>from fiscal 2024 Certified Free Cash for the outfitting<\/span> of the new cruiser provided by Anna Maria College<\/span>; <\/span>transfer <\/span>$5,089.46 <\/span>from fiscal 2024 Free Cash to the Opioid<\/span> Settlement Special Revenue Fund<\/span>; <\/span>transfer <\/span>$61,000 <\/span>from the Ambulance Receipts<\/span> Reserved for Appropriation Fund to purchase a cardiac monitor and Lucas device for the<\/span> a<\/span>mbulances for the Fire Department<\/span>; and <\/span>$1,100<\/span> to be used for the expenses for Wachusett Greenways, an eight-town<\/span> collaborative<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Override information<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The town website has a tab on the homepage linking to more details on the override including budget details and Frequently Asked Questions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The impact of the proposed override on each household will depend on property values used to assess the taxes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The fiscal 2024 tax rate per thousand is $16.07<\/span>;<\/span> the estimated fiscal 2025 tax rate per thousand with the proposed override would be $17.91 per thousand.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An estimated tax rate for fiscal 2025 based on the proposed override can be viewed on the budget page of the website: <\/span><\/span>https:\/\/www.townofpaxton.net\/fy25-budget-page\/files\/tax-calculator<\/a><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For a more precise calculation, <\/span>a<\/span> property\u2019s assessed value <\/span>can be<\/span> multipl<\/span>ied<\/span> by .01791. <\/span>A<\/span>ssessed value<\/span>s can be found via<\/span> the town’s website on the assessor’s page to search by address: <\/span>https:\/\/gis.vgsi.com\/PaxtonMA\/Search.aspx<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Forums<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There have been numerous budget information sessions, at varying times and locations, to get information to voters in advance of the town meeting and election.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The final Budget Information Session is set for 2 p.m. Sunday, May 5, in the t<\/span>raining room<\/span> at the<\/span> Public Safety Building on Pleasant Street<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A slideshow and recording of the budget presentation are available through the Budget tab on the town website homepage. Many of the board meetings on the budgets have been recorded and are available on YouTube and through the town website.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Cleveland Landmark Correspondent PAXTON \u2014 Anyone in Paxton not living under a rock, so to speak, is aware the town is looking at a Proposition 2\u00bd override to fund the town budget. The first measure of support for the override effort, and keeping town services from cuts, comes at the annual town meeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}