By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — Two versions of the FY24 budget were approved by the Select Board Monday night for consideration by the voters at the annual Town Meeting on June 10.

This action was taken to give voters a choice between a balanced budget within the confines of the Proposition 2 1/2 levy limit and an override budget that would address the rising costs of providing essential municipal services to the town while also tackling three large ticket items that would otherwise require a debt exclusion override vote at October Town Meeting.

Those three large ticket items are a new ladder truck for the Fire Dept. at an estimated cost of $1.9 million, and replacing failed culverts underneath both Chestnut Street and Burroughs Road.

The current ladder truck is 17 years old and it takes several years to get such a large item bid on and built to the town’s specifications, according to Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto.

The section of Chestnut Street near the DPW garage was ordered closed by the state last year due to safety concerns following a series of sink holes in the roadway over the culverts. A bridge replacement is currently being designed. Prior to the sinkholes appearing, this was a large capital item identified by the town as a priority a few years ago to be addressed in the next year or two. However, once the sinkholes began appearing last year the project had to be moved to the top of the large capital projects list.

The issues with the Burroughs Road culverts were identified late last year as part of a review of the town’s bridges and culverts. Burroughs Road provides access to the Martins Pond neighborhood. Both projects also require extensive environmental review so there are no quick fixes.

The action taken by the board Monday night was similar to the vote taken by the School Committee two weeks ago and necessitated by the fact that voters are being asked to consider approving a structural override of Proposition 2 1/2 for FY25 that would carry the town through the next three fiscal years (FY26 and FY27).

A portion of the $10M override being requested would be used to cover the override budget. Then, approximately another third of the funds would be available to address budget needs in FY26 and the last third would be applied to FY27. Approval of each budget always rests with the voters.

Presenting two budgets to the voters at the June 10 Annual Town Meeting is necessary because of the state law requirement to have an FY25 budget in place as of July 1, 2024. An override of Prop. 2 1/2 is a two-step process requiring both the approval of voters at Town Meeting and at the ballot box. If one or the other measure failed the town would still have a non-override budget in place.

Separately, the Select Board also voted to notify the Town Clerk of the date of a potential Special Election related to the Prop. 2 1/2 override vote for Tuesday, June 18. The town is required to provide the Town Clerk’s Office with a minimum of 35 days’ advance notice of any special election so that preparations can be made to have workers available at the polls, and the election (if needed) can be adequately advertised to the public.

Additionally, the board also unanimously signed the warrant for the June 10, 2024 annual Town Meeting which has 34 articles. The warrant will be printed and mailed to all residences and posted on the town website. The Select Board will also hold an informational public hearing on the 34 warrant articles prior to Town Meeting at which the public will be invited to attend and ask questions on any warrant item.

UNANIMOUS APPROVAL

By a 5-0 vote, the motion approved by Select Board Chairwoman Liane Gonzalez and board members Vincenzo Stuto, Kate Manupelli, Steve O’Leary and Rich Wallner recommended the following FY25 operating budgets be presented to the voters:

BUDGET 1: Prop. 2 1/2-Limit Budget: Municipal ($19,732925); School ($38,772,128); Fixed ($25,403,093); Enterprises ($7,838,109) for a total of $91,746,255.

Override Budget: Municipal ($520,214); School ($1,436,318); Fixed ($74,895); Enterprises ($753,800) for a total of $92,085,227.

BUDGET 2: Total of Prop. 2 1/2 + Override Budget: Municipal ($20,253,139); School ($40,208,446); Fixed ($25,477,988); Enterprises ($7,891,909) for a total of $93,831,482.

INFORMATIONAL HEARING MAY 9

Tonight, Thursday, May 9, an informational hearing is being held open to anyone from the public starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Distance Learning Lab at North Reading High School during which the budget and the override process will be explained in detail, with time for questions and answers of the Financial Planning Team and members of various town boards. A previous webinar in April was attended by 150 people.

Additional informational hearings may be scheduled in advance of the Town Meeting.

All budget documents related to the FY25 proposals are uploaded to the town’s website (northreadingma.gov) under the “Budget Central” home page. (https://www.northreadingma.gov/home/news/updated-fy-2025-budget-central).