PLAINFIELD — The annual Town Meeting will take place Saturday, and once again police funding will be taking center stage.
The meeting featuring 33 articles will take place at the Dennis A. Thatcher Public Safety Complex starting at 1 p.m.
One article requests that voters approve a budget for police salaries of $129,090 for fiscal 2023, up from the $107,892 approved in the current fiscal year. The Finance Committee, on the other hand, is recommending that police salaries be increased to $114,366. Another police-related article calls for transferring $2,400 from free cash to buy bulletproof vests.
In other business, voters will decide on a wetlands protection bylaw that would increase the development buffers around wetlands and other freshwater features in town. The article is supported by the Conservation Commission.
The total requested annual Town Meeting expenditures are $3.075 million, with $3.071 million recommended by the Finance Committee. This is up from that number in fiscal year 2022, which was $2.869 million.
Meanwhile, the annual town election will also take place Saturday, at which voters will decide on two Proposition 2½ debt exclusion overrides to fund repairs to Mohawk Trail Regional School and Sanderson Academy.
The election will be held from 12-6 p.m. at Town Hall. None of the races for board and committee seats are contested this year. Running for open seats on the School Committee and Select Board are newcomers Amanda Walters and Benjamin Gillett, respectively. All other races feature incumbents seeking reelection.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.