CUMMINGTON — Voters at Friday’s annual Town Meeting approved a $1.36 million budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, but removed money for the Central Berkshire regional School District.
A total of 62 of the town’s 716 voters attended Town Meeting to pass a $1,360,458 budget and approve $500,000 to repair a leaking roof at the former Berkshire Trail Elementary School.
The budget approved is $736,567 less than this year’s figure of $2,097,025.
The proposed operating budget originally was $2,129,706, which included a total school budget of $1,036,103. But in a protest vote against the regional school district, the vote was unanimous to cut $769,248. That is the town’s regional school district assessment.
Last year, the district closed the Berkshire Trail Elementary School, the town’s only school. Many parents opted to send their students to schools in the surrounding towns, while some Cummington students remain in the Central Berkshire Regional and attend classes in Dalton, which requires a one-hour bus ride to school.
Dissatisfied with Central Berkshire Regional, the town is trying to withdraw from the district.
The rest of the town’s educational budget including transportation and vocational tuition came in at $266,855 and was unanimously approved.
Voters unanimously approved spending $500,000 on repairing the roof of the former elementary school building, which is contingent on a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion override question on Monday’s ballot in the town election.
While it no longer functions as an elementary school, Select Board member Monica Vandoloski said that there are several nonprofit organizations using the building, including It Takes a Village, an organization that helps young mothers; a pre-kindergarten family center; a family home school group; and an adult art class.
It is also the home of Ooma Tesoro’s Marinara Sauce who pays the town $500 per month in rent.
Finance Committee Chairman Dennis Forgea said that the town is still negotiating with the school district and hope it will help pay for the roof repairs. Town officials say should have been taken care of while the district was still maintaining the school.
“It is a town building with a leak that needs to be fixed before it gets worse,” Vandoloski said.
According to Select Board member Russell Sears, the town would borrow money for one year, at three-quarters of 1 percent interest.
“We would then finalize more permanent funding after we come to some conclusion with the school department,” Sears said.
Voters also approved $1,500 for a thermal imager for the Fire Department, and $10,000 to begin restoration of cemetery stones in the town’s three cemeteries.
Before the Town Meeting, the Select Board honored Barbara Goldsmith, a longtime resident and former town clerk and treasurer. She served 25 years in both positions. The 87-year-old Goldsmith, who is leaving Cummington to live with her daughter Linda Lunger in Buena Vista, Colorado, was presented with a bouquet of flowers from the Select Board. Many in attendance at the meeting stood to relate heart-felt memories of Goldsmith and offer their best wishes.
“You have years and years of knowledge. You were someone that we could always rely on. We are really going to miss you,” Town Moderator Donna Forgea said.
A resident of Cummington since she graduated from high school, Goldsmith had also helped form the town’s Historical Commission.
Vandoloski called Goldsmith “an important mainstay of the town.”