DALTON, Mass. — The Dalton Day event needs sponsorships to compensate for no longer having American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

 

The town partially subsidized the event, allocating $4,500 to the fiscal year 2025's budget. The remaining cost came from $3,249.50 of ARPA funds and $1,750 from sponsorships. 

 

This year, the town will not receive ARPA funds because it was a response to aid towns during the pandemic. 

 

There is a lot of pressure to get sponsorships for the event, Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson said during a recent Finance Committee meeting. 

 

How to budget for the event is still being worked out because of the lack of ARPA funds. The town will have to more than double the sponsorships this year to make up for this, he said. 

 

During the Finance Committee meeting, an amended version of the cultural activities budget was approved for $7,200, a $200 increase from fiscal year 2025. Funding for Dalton Day is included in this budget. 

 

The initial budget proposal was for $7,500, an increase of $500, approved by the Select Board on Jan. 13. 

 

Included in the budget is $5,000 for Dalton Day and $2,500 for the Halloween Family Walk, Light Up the Holidays Parade, and other festivities. 

 

"I think that there's enough people in town that are more worried about their taxes than they are about the cultural event in July and I think that we should consider trimming this a little bit," committee member Thomas Irwin said. 

 

Committee clerk Karen Schmidt highlighted how she thinks the event is a good thing for the town. 

 

"I think they feel better if they tax money in their pockets, and I think that we're asking a lot of different departments, we're going to ask a lot of departments to kind of Step Up, and I think this is one way we can," Irwin said. 

 

The amendment to decrease the budget to $7,200, rather than the originally proposed $7,500, passed, with committee Chair William Drosehn and member Susan Carroll-Lombardi voting against it.