PLAINFIELD — Town Meeting voters will be asked to approve a $1,256,748 education budget, $2,239,196 in municipal spending and special articles, and purchase of a new firetruck Saturday.
Town Meeting will also consider a resolution calling for the creation of a town administrator position.
The general government budget of $462,774 shows an increase of $68,631, or 17.4%, driven largely by a rise of almost $44,000 in long-term interest and an $11,000 increase in town counsel expenses.
Highway, public safety and health and sanitation spending are projected to rise by approximately 10%, while school spending is up by 8.2%, the result of a $95,371 increase in the Mohawk Trail Regional School District assessment.
Special articles include $25,000 for painting the Hallock Memorial School and the police station, $110,000 for a loader-mounted boom mower, and $50,000 for the firetruck stabilization fund.
Voters will be asked to support the purchase of the new firetruck for the town at an estimated cost of $670,000. The truck is scheduled for delivery in 22 months if approved.
The stabilization fund was started with $50,000 at last year’s Town Meeting. Officials are pledging to seek grant and gift money to help offset the cost.
Overall spending would rise by approximately $380,000, or 12.2%, from the current year.
Revenues boosted by free cash and stabilization funds leave a proposed tax levy of $2,613,448, almost $160,000 over the levy limit under Proposition 2½.
Debt exclusion funds in the amount of $183,599 are available to make up the difference.
The last item on the warrant is the nonbinding resolution calling for the creation of a town administrator position. Plainfield has been managed for many years by volunteers and a small number of administrative staff, according to the article, during which time town business has become more complex and state and federal mandates and regulations have proliferated. A town administrator could provide a central management function for the town.
The resolution calls for “continued consideration and development” of the position, either part-time, shared or full-time, with the aim of bringing a request to next year’s Town Meeting.
The warrant also includes three articles that would amend the Mohawk Trail Regional School District’s assessment formula.
The articles, one of which is 17 pages long, were presented to member towns late in the process, and officials acknowledged that voters may not be prepared to act on the changes this year.
“I understand we didn’t talk about it a lot during the budget process,” Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee Chair Martha Thurber told the Greenfield Recorder. “That may come back to haunt us. That is fine, we will bring it back next year.”
Town Meeting begins at 1 p.m., an hour after polls open for the town elections.