By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — Here we go, North Reading voters; it’s time to gather for the Greatest Show on Earth, otherwise known as the Annual Town Meeting.
Where else do you get to spend about $84M in the upcoming Fiscal Year to keep the town and all its services solvent and balanced? None other than Town Meeting!
This year’s event will be held in the gymnasium at NRHS but voters may notice a change in the orientation of the setup from prior Town Meetings in the gym with the audience likely to be seated facing the school’s “Main Street” rather than the bleachers, which may afford a better opportunity for voters to see items projected onto a screen.
Masks not required
While masks are not required, attendees may choose to wear them and extras will be available. The set up in the gymnasium allows more flexibility in seating distance than the auditorium and it is also a shorter walk from the parking lot.
Arrive promptly
The meeting is expected to be called to order promptly at 7 p.m. by Town Moderator John Murphy, therefore voters are asked to allow themselves plenty of time to get from the parking lot and to be checked in by the poll workers prior to that time.
The Select Board’s informational public hearing on the Town Meeting Warrant was held last night, Wednesday, June 1, after the Transcript went to press. Due to the date of Town Meeting this year and the date of the Memorial Day holiday it was not possible to hold it earlier so there may be figures that will be made available in the motions at Town Meeting that were not available prior to press time.
A printed warrant booklet was mailed to every residence in town and voters are asked to bring their booklets with them to follow along; limited copies will be available at Town Meeting. The warrant is also available online on the town’s website at northreadingma.gov.
Highlights of the warrant:
There are 27 articles on the Town Meeting warrant; however, many of them are routine and will be dealt with quickly; several articles will be passed over as it has been determined that action is not necessary at this time or will be handled in October instead of June.
Omnibus budget
Cutting to the chase, the revenue forecast for the town for FY23 for the general fund is $78,224,841 through all available sources: taxes, state aid, local receipts and transfers and the recommended expenditures do balance out.
• Article 12 deals entirely with the FY23 Operating Budget. The good news is it is balanced for both municipal and school services. This article will be broken down into two motions — Available Funds and Debt Service. The grand total of the budget recommended by the Select Board and the Finance Committee is $84,214,255. This includes fixed costs.
The breakdown, according to a joint presentation by Gilleberto and Finance Director Liz Rourke to the Select Board in mid-May, is as follows:
• General Government: $32,991,480
• Education (includes assessments for Vocational and Technical regional education): $36,481,702. The North Reading School Department budget consumes $35,709,330 of that total assessment, with the balance of $772,372 going to the town’s assessments toward Northeast Metro Tech and Essex Tech.
• Enterprises (Parks & Recreation, Hillview and Water): $7,021,247. These services are generally covered through fees collected by the various enterprises for the services they provide, with the exception of some salaries for Parks & Rec.
• Debt Service: $7,719,826.
The Select Board, Finance Committee and School Committee each recommended the budget(s) as per their respective votes.
• Article 13— Fund Retirement Obligations
Voters will be asked to fund a sum of money toward the town’s retirement obligations utilizing Free Cash to fund for municipal retirement obligations and public school retirement obligations. The amount will be finalized in the motion.
• Article 14— Appropriate Funds to Other Post Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund (OPEB): Voters will be asked to either “raise and appropriate” or “transfer” a sum of money to fund this obligation for future health care of retirees. The fund currently has a balance of $2,897,213 at the time the warrant was printed.
• Article 17— FY23 Capital Expenditures
The town’s Capital Improvement Planning Committee (CIPC) approved a budget of $5,780,033 and all three boards recommend its passage (Select Board, FinCom, School Com). Thirty separate projects throughout the town and schools will be funded if it passes as-is. Each line item is called out in the warrant as to cost, purpose and department benefitting from the expenditure as well as how it will be funded (Free Cash, anticipated receipts, authorization to borrow, water infrastructure stabilization or Hillview retained earnings).
For instance, the Arthur J. Kenney turf field is over 10 years old and must be replaced. The budget includes a request of $356,000 for Parks and Rec to borrow funds supplemented by $30,000 in Free Cash. The field has been certified as being safe to play on but plans must be made now to ensure it remains that way. This item had come up last year but was left unfunded.
• Article 18— Fund Town Building Repairs. This is an annual line item generally of $50,000 appropriated from Free Cash used for the continual upkeep of municipal buildings.
• Articles 21 & 22— Appropriate Money for Legal Expenses: Middle/High School under 21 and 20 Elm Street Litigation under 22: The amounts will be stated in the motions.
• Article 23— Voters will be asked to increase the amount of money disabled veterans can take for a property tax exemption from the current annual amount of $400.
Similarly, under Article 24— voters will be asked to increase income limits for Senior Property Tax Deferrals to align with amounts allowed under the state Circuit Breaker tax credit program. Both articles are aimed to help seniors age in place.
• Article 25— Amend Code – General Bylaws, Ch. 11 – Alarm Systems to enable the Fire Dept. to remove the set amount of fees collected for alarm connections and be able to determine fees in the same manner as the department does for other services it provides to the public.
• Article 26— Amend Code – General Bylaws – Assessments for sewer betterments.
This article would address the current 50/50% split in betterment programs between the town and property owners to allow Town Meeting to determine the appropriate amounts/ratio of the cost of such betterments. The town is seeking flexibility in assessing different amounts for different properties, for instance, commercial income-producing properties who can presumably pass their costs on to customers and whose properties will become more valuable if given the ability to add density currently not available when on septic systmes vs. residential properties who generally do not have an option to pass on their costs to others (such as leasees).
• Articles 27 — Appropriate funds for a forestry consultant. This person would work under the direction of the Forestry Committee, to provide conceptual plans for recreational access to 270 acres of town-owned land in Swan Pond area.
