By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — The annual spring Town Meeting on Monday, June 10 will rank among the most pivotal in a generation.

In the wake of several years of high inflation and deflating new growth figures, for the first time in about 20 years the town’s voters are being asked to support a general operating budget override of $10 million which would be spread out over the next three fiscal years to cover budget gaps in all sectors of town government.

Supporters and opponents of an override have drawn their lines in the sand, with two separate camps forming of “yes” and “no” voters. Signs have gone up around town along with active letter-writing and social media campaigns. Tonight (June 8) at 7 p.m., the town’s Financial Planning Team will host its last virtual webinar to discuss the most recent budget cuts proposed just last week to the current budget and some projected cutback for FY26 and FY27 in order to reduce the impact of a general override.

Given the interest in this Town Meeting, Town Administrator Mike Gilleberto informed the Transcript that voters will be able to sign in starting at 6 p.m. Monday night — a full hour before Town Moderator John Murphy is slated to call the meeting to order in the gymnasium at NRHS, 189 Park St.

Additionally, there will be seven check-in stations set up on Main Street at the school, rather than the typical four. Providing a driver’s license to scan will enable the clerks to check-in voters more easily since they will not have to manually type their name. But it’s optional.

A shuttle van will also be available to get voters from the lower parking lot to the main parking lot on Monday night so voters can avoid walking up the long hill. Gilleberto said they have ordered extra chairs for the gym floor and they are prepared to set up any necessary overflow room or rooms elsewhere in the school, such as in the cafeterias. He asks those who are able climb the bleachers to do so in order to make more chairs available for those who cannot.

Be sure to leave enough time to get a parking spot at NRHS and enter through the gymnasium doors. Voters will be guided to the check-in tables where they will be given a ribbon to pin to their shirts or jackets indicating they are eligible to vote.

Limited paper copies of the Town Warrant will be available at the check-in tables, therefore voters are reminded to bring their paper copy with them that was mailed to their homes two weeks ago.

Town Meeting will be held in the school’s gymnasium where each of the 34 motions will be projected upon a large screen prior to action being taken. The printed warrant contains the full details on each of these motions.

The onsite childcare option provided by the NRHS Student Council is at capacity, therefore parents will need to get babysitters for their youngsters if they have not pre-registered for that service by last week.

Two-step process

An override is a two-step process requiring both an affirmative vote by Town Meeting on Article 16 and a majority of voters approving of the measure at the polls.

A balanced budget needs to be in place at the end of the fiscal year, July 1, therefore, the Select Board, School Committee, Finance Committee and Financial Planning Team have prepared two budgets — one without an override that details the cuts that would need to be made in FY25 and as well as those cuts anticipated next two years, and a second budget that preserves essential services on both the town side and the school side of the docket plus the initial financing of the Chestnut Street and Burroughs Road bridges and a new ladder truck. Without the passage of the override, those last three items may come before the voters later this year in the form of a debt exclusion override.

The town’s Finance Committee continues to stress in its report to Town Meeting that achieving a balanced budget continues to be a monumental task given the ever-increasing rate of overall inflation combined with a limited increase in the rate of revenue growth for the town.

Early Voting begins Friday

Since an override vote can take place either before or after a Town Meeting vote and the state now allows towns the option to provide Early Voting days as well as mail-in ballots on top of the single Special Election Day on June 18, voters will have the option to participate in the override election as early as this Saturday, June 8 at Town Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Early voting will continue through Friday, June 14. (See schedule in today’s Transcript.)

All Early Voting days will take place in Room 14 at Town Hall but the Special Election on Tuesday, June 18 will be held at the town’s centralized polling location at St. Theresa’s Parish Hall on Winter Street from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.