Wade Holtzman takes the floor at Special Town Meeting to present an amendment to Article 1. The amendment failed with 28 votes in favor and 174 opposed. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Just over 200 voters at Wednesday’s Special Town Meeting passed a $19,943,498 omnibus budget for fiscal year 2009, contingent on passage of a $200,000 Proposition 2½ override at the June 11 town election. The vote on Article I came after a brief discussion of two amendments, including one that would have cut $200,000 from the proposed budget, thereby eliminating the need for an override. Introduced by Wade Holtzman of Bolton Road, the amendment would have cut $145,000 in school spending, $3,000 from the Finance Department, $32,800 from the Department of Public Works, and a total of $19,200 from the library budget. Asked how he arrived at the $145,000 figure for the schools, Holtzman said he used the standard 70/30 split in school-town funding and that the $145,000 represents 70 percent of the $200,000 needed for a no-override budget. “I have no idea what the school cuts would be; that’s up to the School Committee,” said Holtzman.
During discussion of the amendment, selectmen Chairman Leo Blair, School Committee Chairman Stu Sklar, and Finance Committee Chairman Debbi Ricci all affirmed their committees’ unanimous support for the proposed budget and for the override. When a vote was taken, the amendment failed, with 28 in favor and 174 opposed.
A second amendment, proposed by B.J. Pessia of West Bare Hill Road, would have taken $12,000 from the school budget total and added it to the Council on Aging budget for personnel so that the COA director could be made a full-time position. The amendment failed by a show of hands, and the proposed budget passed easily.
Warrant Article 2 asked for $140,000 from the stabilization fund to replace a primary boiler at Bromfield with two smaller boilers that would provide greater fuel efficiency. School Committee member Virginia Justicz explained that the two smaller boilers are expected to produce an energy savings of 30 percent, which would have translated into 10,800 gallons of heating oil this past winter. She predicted that the new boilers would pay for themselves in two to three years. Holtzman questioned the wisdom of installing oil burners and asked if the committee had considered a gas-fired system or “something that could be hooked up to alternative energy sources.” Justicz said that the boilers would be dual-fired, able to burn gas or oil. Selectmen Chairman Leo Blair told the meeting that he had done a lot of research on this subject and recommended going ahead with the boiler replacement now.
“This is a large project,” Blair said, “and we need to do it during the summer.”
Davida Bagatelle speaks to Article 3, while Jeff Harris waits his turn.
Blair assured the voters that all of the town officials are working to get the cost down. When it came to a vote, only eight townspeople opposed the article.
Moving to Article 3, voters discussed the School Committee’s request for $8,000 for installation of ceiling fans in the elementary school; the fans themselves have been donated, explained Sklar. Billy Salter, of Elm Street, asked whether the School Committee had “done its homework” in researching whether ceiling fans are needed. He suggested that it would be much cheaper to buy small, portable fans instead. “If you’re talking about kids, you want the fans on the ceiling,” retorted Ted Stefanik of Littleton Road. “I’ve got kids and I see what happens at home when a fan gets knocked over – broken blades and plastic everywhere.” When the vote was taken, only five were opposed.
In a surprise move, the selectmen asked voters to take no action on Articles 4 and 5, requests for an electrical upgrade at the transfer station and a new heating system at the Department of Public Works building, respectively. Selectman Peter Warren explained that the BOS believes the cost for these two items can be covered by funds remaining in the current budget.
And finally, voters reauthorized a revolving account for the Fourth of July committee, with only two opposed.
