Dalton Town Meeting OKs $21.5M Budget, All Warrant Articles
Voters passed all 26 articles at Monday's annual town meeting at Wahconah Regional High School.
Exactly 99 voters attended the two-hour meeting to approve the budget and various spending items for town equipment, repairs and green initiatives.
The town budget of $21,501,716 is an increase of $1,023,197, or 5 percent, over this year; the assessment to the Central Berkshire Regional School District of $17,505,621 is up 2.27 percent, and includes operating costs of $8,752,286, transportation at $312,385, and capital costs of $1,269,442.
The budget has increased substantially because, according to the Finance Committee’s report, the town is attempting to catch up with modern-day needs that have been overlooked in previous years.
Officials will be looking into stabilizing spending by taking a historical look at department spending and increasing diligence with the spending without overlooking needs the town has to address.
One voter asked why the state is not fully funding regional school transportation and what has been done about it.
"From what I understand, presently, there is a movement in the latest budget for the state to fund it at a much higher rate than we've been receiving. I was at a meeting this past weekend in Stow that they made that clear from the [Massachusetts Municipal Association,]" Finance Committee Chair William Drosehn said. "We'll see how everything comes out of the State House."
The town voted to transfer $67,500 from free cash to fund developing a "Climate Change Roadmap" and Climate Fair.
The roadmap is required for communities to achieve state Climate Leader status, which creates more grant opportunities. It would outline the changes Dalton needed to make to meet greenhouse gas emission targets.
Voter Joe Albano said he is not opposed to the article but asked, if passed, would the Green Committee have the authorization to force residents to use environmentally friendly products, such as electric power tools or solar panels?
The Green Committee does not have the authorization to mandate residents; rather the goal of the initiative is to improve the accessibility of green projects by opening up funding opportunities.
Paxton Strout asked what the physical results would be. The result would be a "tremendous amount of action" including weatherizing homes, heat pumps, electrical infrastructure, Green Committee member Thomas Irwin said.
Some voters thought these incentives are not enough to make an impact on the climate crisis and had concerns about the lack of data surrounding the aftereffects of these initiatives.
The town voted to transfer $46,324 from the Capital Stabilization Fund to cover the cost of a new administrative vehicle for the Police Department.
This will replace a 2016 Ford Fusion that has extensive issues with a 2023 Ford Explorer.
Fusion had a rejection sticker for six months because the parts it needs have been on back order. Police Chief Deanna Strout said after the meeting that she had to use her personal vehicle to go to calls and training this winter because the Fusion couldn't function.
One person asked about purchasing a hybrid. Drosehn said the technology doesn't meet the towns needs at the moment but that it will be considered as hybrids become more accessible.
Also approved was a transfer $5,000 to cover the relocation costs of residents who inhabit homes that the town condemns. The town will attempt to recoup the cost from the owner or landlord or put a lien on the property, Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson said.
Town meeting voted to appropriate $214,941 to cover the cost of highway repaving projects that will be reimbursed by the state.
Officials will be looking at the roads that are in the worst conditions, based on a streetscan study, and the level of travel to determine what roads to repave. The study showed that Dalton had a large number of streets in poor or serious condition.
"We have been working on establishing a prioritized list of roads. One of the difficulties is that that can change year by year as damage to roads differs. So, it's difficult to put out a list that is rock solid," Hutcheson said.
"With the amount of funding that we have, we can't get to them all right away. Of course, we wish we could. So we're also looking at the worst roads, which ones are the most high the traffic. Those are the factors that we're using in order to determine which roads to pave over the next few years."
Some of the roads high on the town list for paving are Pleasant Street and Sleepy Hollow Road since they are connected together.
Voters approved having the Select Board collaborate with emergency personnel to explore alternative options for voting locations to improve voting accessibility for voters with physical restrictions.
Also approved was a transfer $200,000 from free cash to reduce the tax rate.
Budget and spending figures can be found here.
Dalton Annual Town Meeting 2023 by iBerkshires.com on Scribd
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