CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Select Board has set a special town meeting for Wednesday, March 15, to address a $250,000 budget gap for fiscal 2017.

 

The error in budgeting for this year was discovered by the state Department of Revenue in December. Some $200,000 in school choice revenue had been placed twice and other state charges on the town came in higher than initially proposed.

 

Voters will be asked to cut a total of $93,916 out of the town budget with four months left in the fiscal year. Another $71,000 will be taken from a line item approved last year to pay off the library construction loan and $85,000 will be taken from the stabilization account. 

 

The total amount to cover the budget is $249,992.06.

 

The reductions are mostly in expenses, training, travel and dues in a number of departments. The largest cuts are $5,000 out of Town Hall operations, $6,000 in road maintenance, $6,000 in postemployment benefits and actuarial studies. 

 

The rest of the cuts are between $100 and $650 for a total of $22,370 from the town operating budget.

 

The school budget would be cut by $71,546, dropping the budget from $2,551,546 to $2,480,000, or 2.8 percent.

 

Town meeting last year had appropriated $79,995.13 from free cash to pay off the final 20 years on the library building loan. However, the loan was not paid off, leaving that amount still available. Voters will be asked to reappropriate the amount with $8,919.07 going to this year's loan payment and $71,076.06 going back in the general fund to stabilize the tax rate. 

 

A two-thirds vote is required to transfer $85,000 from the stabilization account to the general fund to stabilize the tax rate. 

 

The special town meeting takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the elementary school.