WESTHAMPTON — Voters will make several key financial decisions at Saturday’s annual Town Meeting, including a reduced $125,000 Proposition 2½ override to help ease the town’s budget shortfall. A larger $500,000 request was rejected in April.
In addition to the override, residents will consider next year’s budget, the town’s contribution to Hampshire Regional High School, a new police cruiser and more.
For efficiency purposes, the town will hold a special Town Meeting right before the annual Town Meeting. Residents wanting to attend both meetings should arrive at Westhampton Town Hall at 9 a.m., with the annual meeting expected to begin when the special meeting ends.
“We’re using the special Town Meeting to tie off (financial matters for) the current fiscal year,” Select Board member Jennifer Milikowsky said. “Trying to keep it cleaner, we decided to have the annual Town Meeting right after to make decisions for next year.”
Between the two warrants, residents will discuss a total of 14 articles. Under Article 6, residents will discuss the Finance Committee’s recommended budget of approximately $7.68 million, which is $250,000 short of level services.
After the $500,000 override failed last month, town officials have worked over the past several weeks to make $250,000 in cuts in many areas, reducing materials, resources and certain employee hours. Additional funds and revenues were also found to help soften the deficit.
To bridge the $250,000 gap to level services, the Finance Committee is recommending to using $125,000 in free cash and $125,000 from the override, should resident approve the measure. Milikowsky said these numbers, and the budget as a whole, could shift depending on what amendments are proposed by residents this Saturday.
Milikowsky said and other town officials will present the budget line items at the Town Meeting, explaining the committee’s recommendation while opening the floor for discussion through a motion. She explained that if a line item is changed or the override is amended, it will shift other pieces of the budget around and the town will need to reconsider other line items.
The override also needs approval at an annual Town Election on June 6, with polls opening at Town Hall at 8 a.m. and closing at 4 p.m. Following the election, the town plans on continuing Town Meeting to review the results and finalize the budget.
“The budget is contingent on an override so we won’t know the full budget until we know if the override passes or not,” Milikowsky said.
If the override fails, the shortfall would made up by two departments — half would come from cutting a vacant highway department position, and the other half would come from the Westhampton Elementary School’s budget. The highway department position became vacant in March.
Other articles
One of the articles asks residents to vote on whether to pay off additional expenses from snow removal this year, which is estimated to cost $65,000.
Article 8 asks residents to vote to appropriate funds for a new police cruiser. Town Administrator Doug Finn previously told the Gazette that the cruiser is estimated to cost close to $75,000. Of the town’s two existing cruisers, one is about nine-years-old and the other is about three-years-old.
Article 3 asks to designate a portion of the landfill property on Hathaway Road for a solar photovoltaic facility that would provide energy to the town for a payment-in-lieu of taxes agreement with whoever it is leased to.
Remaining articles relate to managing finances by transferring funds, establishing new accounts or funding certain projects.
