MAY 15, 2005 — At the Town of Becket
Annual Meeting on May 14, 2005, the main topics of discussion centered around:
- debt service and operating expenses for schools
- a request for money from the Sherwood Forest Road District.
School funding strains Town's finances
There was a lengthy discussion concerning funds that would be required to
support Becket's share of the expenditures associated with the
Central Berkshire Regional School District.
This school district, also known as the CBRSD, is the public-school district
to which the Town of Becket belongs.
The discussion can be broken down into three main issues:
- Now that construction of the Becket Washington School is complete, the Town will be
required to begin paying principal and interest on a 20-year bond to pay for the school.
(The Becket Washington School is the elementary school that serves the Town of Becket
and also serves the neighboring town of Washington, MA.)
- In recent years, the State of Massachusetts has failed to fund some of the educational programs that it mandates;
likewise, the state probably will not fund all mandated programs this coming year.
The taxpayers in the towns that belong to the CBRSD will be required take care
of any shortfalls.
- The proposed fiscal year 2006 budget for the CBRSD includes some items that go
above and beyond state-mandated educational programs.
On the warrant for this meeting, there were three articles that pertain to the
school budget:
Article 3 — fund the CBRSD operating budget at last year's level
($1,551,764).
Article 4 — appropriate an additional amount of $124,142.
Article 5 — appropriate an additional amount of $65,485 above and beyond
the $124,142 for Article 4.
Passage of of Article 3 without passage of Articles 4 and 5 would mean that 1)
the Town would not need a Proposition 2½ override, 2) some CBRSD faculty and/or staff
positions would need to be eliminated in order to fund programs that will be required by
state mandates.
Passage of Articles 3 and 4 without passage of Article 5 would mean that 1) the Town
would need a Proposition 2½ override, 2) faculty/staff positions would not need
to be eliminated.
Passage of all three articles would mean that 1) the Town would need a Proposition 2½
override, 2) faculty/staff positions would not need to be eliminated, 3) the CBRSD could
implement some non-mandated programs and program enhancements.
Town of Becket Finance Committee Chairman Michael Falk, speaking on behalf of
the Finance Committee, recommended that the
meeting attendees pass Articles 3 and 4 and reject Article 5. In contrast,
the Board of Selectmen recommended approval of all three articles. The meeting
attendees went with the Finance Committee's recommendation, passing Articles
3 and 4 and failing Article 5.
It should be noted that official acceptance of Article 4 is contingent upon a Proposition 2½ override
question on the the Town Election ballot of May 21, 2005.
It is also important to note that there will probably be several months of discussion
and possibly several special Town meetings and special ballots before the CBRSD fiscal year 2006
operating budget is finalized. There are two reasons for this: 1) two other towns in the district have rejected the
School Committee's budget proposal, 2) the state has not yet given its final funding
figures.
Sherwood Forest Road District reduces $25,000 request to $1
Another major discussion topic at the meeting was Article 17, which was:
"To see if the Town
will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $25,000.00 to be paid over to the district treasurer of the Sherwood
Forest Road Maintenance District in the same manner as district taxes under Section 24 of the Special Act Chapter 380
of the 1982 Legislative Act for the use and benefit of the district on a maintenance and
reconstruction project within the scope of this act as designated by the town."
Robert Ronzio, representing the Sherwood Forest Road District,
voluntarily reduced the Sherwood Forest Road District's request for funds from the Town of Becket
from $25,000 to $1, in effect withdrawing the request. Mr. Ronzio stated that he was taking
this action because the Town's budget is severely strained.
The Sherwood Forest Road District is an entity that manages the roads within
the private community of Sherwood Forest, which is located within the Town of Becket.
Special legislation passed
by the State of Massachusetts in 1982
permits the Sherwood Forest Road District to apply annually
to the Town of Becket for funds to be used to improve and maintain the roads within
the Sherwood Forest community. The fact that Sherwood Forest's roads were
poorly designed and in poor condition was viewed as rationale for passing this legislation.
Twice in years past, the Sherwood Forest Road District
has applied for and received funds from the Town of Becket under Section 24 of
Special Act 380.
The Sherwood Forest Road District's request for money was not supported by the
Town of Becket Board of Selectmen or by the Finance Committee. After some
discussion, the meeting attendees voted to pay nothing to
the Sherwood Forest Road District.
Other issues
Other issues that were discussed and voted on at the meeting include:
- Article 2: this article lists information about wages and salaries for
Town officials, along with information about other operating expenses for the
Town. This article was passed. The most notable piece of information
concerning this article is a 62% increase in the Town Tax Collector's salary.
- Article 9: $12,000.00 to perform an audit of the Town's accounts for fiscal year 2005.
It was stated by Town officials that the Town's accounts have not been audited
since 1998, that going too many years without an audit could be viewed as a sign
of fiscal irresponsibility, and that completion of the audit might serve to improve the Town's
credit rating. This article was supported by the Board of Selectmen and the
Finance Committee, and it was passed by the meeting attendees.
- Article 10: $28.000.00 for a new wood chipper. Highway Superintendent
William Elovirta explained that the wood chipper
that's currently owned by the Town is very old and is dangerous to operate. This
article was supported by the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee and
was passed by the meeting attendees.
- Article 11: $6,500.00 for maintaining and improving the Becket Arts Center building.
This article was supported by the Board of Selectmen but was not supported by the
Finance Committee (instead of $6,500.00, the Finance Committee recommended an amount
of $1,000.00 for the Becket Arts Center). After lengthy discussion, the article was passed by the meeting attendees.
Most of this money will be used to
complete the construction of a handicapped-accessible bathroom.
- Article 13: $5,000.00 for weed treatment of Center Pond. The Board of Selectmen
recommended an amount of $2,500.00 instead of $5,000.00, whereas the Finance Committee
did not support this article at all. During discussion at the meeting, it was brought
out that surveys of the pond have been done recently, and the surveys indicate that
aggressive weed treatment is not called for this year. After quite a bit of
discussion, it was agreed that $1,000.00 would be appropriated and that this money
would be used to pay for expenses associated with the surveys.
- Article 14: $1,200.00
for the Center Pond Weed Project. (This is a hand-pulling program designed to keep weeds under
control.) This article was supported by both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee,
and it passed.
(NOTE: Center Pond is a large lake near the center of the Town. In addition to the many
homes near and around the lake, there is a Town beach and also a
public boat-launching area on the lake.)
— The information above was provided by Cynthia Leslie, Lot 13, Skyline Ridge
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