DALTON, Mass. — Voters at the annual town meeting on Monday, May 6, will decide 22 articles, including articles on sidewalks and the authorization of a number of spending articles, including an approximate $22 million budget. 

 

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at Wahconah Regional High School. Town meeting documents can be found here.

 

A little more than a dozen voters attended the nearly two-hour town meeting information session on Monday. 

 

"That budget is going up about 8 percent from what it was last year. Sounds like a lot, it is a lot, the majority of that is coming from increases in insurance, and schools, and other things the town does not have direct control over," Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson said.

 

"So, the actual town increase is a little under 4 percent. Everything else we're at the mercy of outside forces."

 

Of the $22 million budget, $10,537,044 is the assessment for the Central Berkshire Regional School District and about $10 million is the town operating budget.

 

"Last year, that part of the budget went up 10 percent. So, we're going in the right direction. It's not as low as we'd necessarily like to see, but I think both the Select Board and the Finance Committee did a great job this year of trimming away where they could," Hutcheson said.