{"id":96383,"date":"2024-05-23T13:40:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T13:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=96383"},"modified":"2024-05-23T13:40:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T13:40:03","slug":"paxton-sets-new-election-town-meeting-after-override-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/05\/23\/paxton-sets-new-election-town-meeting-after-override-fails\/","title":{"rendered":"Paxton sets new election, town meeting after override fails"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Ken Cleveland<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

PAXTON \u2014 Having approved an override-contingent budget at this year’s town meeting, voters rejected the additional taxes at the polls on May 13.<\/p>\n

As a result, voters will have a June 24 special town election and a June 27 special town meeting to finish town business by the end of the fiscal year.<\/p>\n

A second town meeting would be needed to pass a budget, which could use various funds, including funds that could be voted at the special election.<\/p>\n

The election question, if it passes, will allow an override of $950,000, which could be used for funding the budget.<\/p>\n

Town meeting voters would then decide the budget itself, either with a set number in the budget or \u201ca sum\u201d reference as some towns use, if the Select Board goes with that more flexible option when it sets the warrant. In that instance, voters at town meeting would decide the actual figure. But they would not have to use all the override funds that might pass, which could leave some available to use next year.<\/p>\n

If the override does not pass, a budget more like the noncontingent budget that was originally on the May 6 town meeting could be crafted.<\/p>\n

After the May 13 election result, the Select Board met the day after to set new election and town meeting dates, as well as meeting May 17 in a joint meeting with the Finance Committee to talk override numbers.<\/p>\n

Funds from the failed $1.44 million override on the ballot would have funded the town budget without cuts, with the figure designed to provide funds for at least an additional year. Though a general consensus among officials was that an override was needed, there was not universal support for the $1.44 million figure.<\/p>\n

Finance Committee arguments for a lower override figure and lobbying by some on town boards for a lower figure preceded the tally at the polls, with 274 in favor and 488 opposed to the override.<\/p>\n

The Finance Committee had argued for $1.15 million.<\/p>\n

But in the Select Board meeting the day after the election, Finance Committee Chair Mark Love said he would now be supporting an even lower figure, $840,000, which he said was enough to close the deficit for the coming year. He said he wanted the committee to review information and potentially seek even less.<\/p>\n

The Select Board faced a short deadline to call a new election, with a 35-day period needed in advance of the election. The goal was to hold the election first so that town meeting voters would know the figure available when they vote on a town budget.<\/p>\n

But the budget is running up against the June 30 end of the fiscal year.<\/p>\n

There is some leeway, Town Administrator Heather Munroe said, to get the budget in place in September. But that would take the $500,000 in free cash off the table to balance the budget, since it would no longer be available until the state recertified it later in September.<\/p>\n

At the May 17 meeting, the select Board and Finance Committee discussed options and ultimately voted the $950,000 figure.<\/p>\n

Even as they planned the June 24 special town election and June 27 special town meeting, discussion focused on how to get information out.<\/p>\n

Several people, from Select Board members to members of Finance and Planning, said they had had people asking them about the override the morning of the election.<\/p>\n

The town held numerous information sessions on the override, but several questioned whether they were advertised sufficiently. Officials sought a solution to the dilemma of getting information to voters in an age of fractured information sources.<\/p>\n

Added to that is the complexity of the finances involved.<\/p>\n

For instance, the override increases the levy capacity, the amount to which the town could tax. But it does not immediately affect taxes, since town meeting has to appropriate funds. The original plan had been to use some of that capacity in fiscal 2025, leaving the ability to use more in coming years without needing additional override votes.<\/p>\n

No races<\/strong><\/p>\n

The May 13 election had no contests for positions, but 771 voters turned out to decide the override, 20.9% of the town’s 3,691 registered voters, according to the official results, with 443 voting on Election Day, 323 by mail and 5 by absentee ballot.<\/p>\n

The following were elected: Select Board, Julia Pingitore, 584 votes; Board of Assessors, Deirdre Malone, 629; Board of Health, Thomas Carroll, 634; Cemetery Commission, Brian Brosnihan, 628; Library Trustees, two seats, Christopher Isperduli, 575, and Catherine McCourt, 605; Library Trustee, a two-year seat, Rachel Stone, 633; Municipal Light Board, Yvette Orell, 619; Planning Board, David Bloom, 613; Recreation Commission, two seats, Heather Larson, 591, and R. Dustin Hill, 550; SWCRVSD Committee, Jeffrey Wentzell, 618; WRSD Committee, Scott Runstrom, 619; Water Board, David Trulson, 618.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Cleveland Landmark Correspondent PAXTON \u2014 Having approved an override-contingent budget at this year’s town meeting, voters rejected the additional taxes at the polls on May 13. As a result, voters will have a June 24 special town election and a June 27 special town meeting to finish town business by the end of […]<\/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-96383","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\/96383","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=96383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96383\/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=96383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}