“It’s a lot of articles.” That was Select Board member Kara Minar’s comment when the board completed its review of 35 of the 45 articles in this year’s Annual Town Meeting warrant. The Select Board held off reviewing the 10 articles submitted by the Planning Board and scheduled another meeting for March 11 to discuss those. The board is hoping to vote to close the warrant on March 18.
Select Board Chair SusanMary Redinger suggested that a Planning Board member attend the March 11 meeting to explain the articles and prioritize them, with an eye toward moving some to a fall Town Meeting. The Select Board voted earlier this year to hold only one Annual Town Meeting going forward, noting it could call a Special Town Meeting if necessary.
Member Charles Oliver said this situation is exactly why the board voted to split Town Meeting into a spring and fall session in 2019. Minar added that having two sessions wasn’t done just to handle the volume of articles. Planning Board articles, which can be very complex, are always placed at the end of the warrant. At that point in the meeting, voters are less likely to pay attention, and some may even leave the meeting before the Planning Board submissions come up, which has the effect of giving those articles short shrift. The board also discussed how to handle the likely tiered-override vote for the budget.
Dealing with override vote, new pension fund
Last year, the town voted for the highest level of override at Town Meeting, with the caveat that the actual override level would be decided at the polls and the budget adjusted accordingly. Board members could not remember why it was done that way, and Town Administrator Dan Nason was not working here at that time. Former Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the board last year that if election voters chose a higher-level override than Town Meeting, the budget would have to be increased, and that would require another Town Meeting vote, necessitating a Special Town Meeting.
Few of the articles reviewed sparked discussion among board members, but an article to create a new stabilization fund to hold money in reserve to pay for future pension funding increases prompted some questions. Finance Director Jared Mullane submitted the article to address the quickly increasing cost of town employee retirement benefits, reasoning that contributing annually to the fund would take pressure off the annual budget. Mullane is also suggesting an initial contribution of $200,000.
Redinger questioned what the benefit of creating this fund was, other than that it could be invested. But, she said, asking people to contribute $200,000 this year, when the town is already faced with an override, would be tough. Member Rich Maiore asked if the initial contribution had to be that high. Nason said no, but costs are going up 10% a year. Redinger said a fund like this is not commonly done, and she knew of no other towns in the state taking this approach.
