Williamstown Fire District Meeting Tuesday
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Do not expect any fireworks when the town’s Fire District holds its annual meeting on Tuesday evening.
Unlike the annual town meeting a couple of weeks ago, the business of the fire district will be fairly routine when it sits down to approve the fiscal 2017 budget at the fire station at 8 p.m.
Tuesday's business begins with the annual fire district election of officers for the coming year. The polls open at 6 at the fire station.
At 8, the voters will be asked to approve an appropriation of $581,915, a 4.24 percent decrease from the FY16 appropriation.
The Fire District is a separate entity apart from town government with its own elected governance, the three-person Prudential Committee, and its own taxing authority.
The district’s projected operating expenses are up by a little more than $14,000 from the current fiscal year, a rise of about 3 percent.
But the overall appropriation is down because last year the district voted to appropriate $60,000 for repairs to the fire station and its front apron and driveway — work that that was undertaken this spring.
The $60,000 was included in one of three warrant articles above and beyond the operating budget that are included on on the eight-article warrant.
The operating expenses, about $489,000 for FY17, are in Article 5.
Article 6 asks voters to put $42,000 in a stabilization fund, and Article 7 asks for $8,000 for the purchase of personal protective equipment and uniforms for the district’s call volunteer firefighters.
Article 8, which last year was the $60,000 appropriation, this year seeks $20.000 for communication equipment improvements.
The $40,000 drop in Article 8, balanced by the $14,000 increase in Article 5 accounts for the $26,000 overall drop in the total bill to taxpayers: $581,915 in FY17 from $607,710 in FY16, the 4.24 percent decrease.
Tags: annual meeting, election, fire district, prudential committee,
