Westminster residents will have a chance to make their voices heard on the proposed fiscal 2025 budget and several major capital budgets.
The Westminster special and annual Town Meetings will be held in the Westminster Elementary School gymnasium on Saturday, May 4 at 10 a.m. Before the annual Town Meeting, voters will need to dispense with five articles at a special Town Meeting.
The following articles request money from the town’s free cash account, which currently has $3,053,515. The three articles request a total of $455,000.
- Article 5 on the STM warrant requests $125,000 to pay for the "Small Projects and Initiatives program" under the direction of Stephanie Lahtinen, the town administrator.
- Article 17 on the ATM warrant requests $100,000 to pay for another town administrator-directed project for a "Building and Equipment Maintenance Fund."
- Article 13 on the ATM warrant requests $230,000 to reduce the increased fiscal 2025 tax rate.
If these three articles pass, the town will have $2,598,515 left in the free cash account.
Three key articles at special Town Meeting
Article 3 requests an additional $50,000 to pay for the Sewer Enterprise account that the town has with Fitchburg. Joshua Hall, director of the Westminster Department of Public Works, said the Sewer Enterprise budget was approved at last year's ATM on May 6, but they had more flow than expected this past fiscal year. The additional funds are needed to ensure there are no unpaid bills from fiscal 2024.
Article 4 is another $270,000 money transfer to the Sewer and Water Enterprise to pay for urgent projects, including repair to a watermain on Route 2A bridge over Route 2 as well as updating the 2004 wastewater capacity analysis. Hall said these two projects are in the STM warrant, not the ATM warrant, so that the town does not have to wait to start them.
Article 1 requests an additional $70,190 to be transferred into the Snow and Ice Removal account. The original FY24 budget was $397,000. Although communities across the commonwealth experienced minimal snowfall, Hall said the department still needs to salt the roads when there are below-freezing temperatures to prevent ice on the road. He said in FY24, the DPW had 20 responses, nine of which were for plowing snow. The other 11 were for salt treatment and freezing temperature preparedness.
Top three money articles at annual Town Meeting
Article 7: Approve the town budget for the 2025 fiscal year of $26,836,512
Article 13: Approve $230,000 from the town’s free cash account to reduce the fiscal 2025 tax rate.
Article 17: Approve $100,000 from free cash to pay for a “Building and Equipment Maintenance Fund” under the Town Administrator's direction.
Articles 8 through 10 need voters to approve the fiscal 2025 operating budgets for the sewer, water and solid waste enterprises, which total $3,245,193. Article 8 is for the Sewer Enterprise FY25 budget, at $1,705,303. Article 9 is for $1,140,730, which pays for the Water Enterprise FY25 budget. Article 10 is to pay for the Solid Waste Transfer Facility contract the town has with Fitchburg, a total of $339,160 for FY25.
Two non-spending articles worth noting
Article 6: Change the Town Clerk position from elected to appointed. The current town clerk, Ellen Sheehan, said she is in favor of this article and that the town should always have a qualified clerk, especially now because the position demands expertise.
Article 5: Establish a full-time Assistant Health Agent.
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Westminster's annual Town Meeting is Saturday: what to know to be an informed voter
Most Popular
Comments / 0