CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Voters will decide a $5.4 million budget at the annual town meeting on Wednesday night and whether to take out a half-million loan to put a new roof on the school. 

 

Town meeting takes place beginning at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the school cafeteria. The warrant can be found here.

 

School and town officials have been debating for months how to address continued infrastructure needs at the 60-year-old building. The issue took a critical turn earlier this year when the roof began springing leaks and buckets appeared in classrooms. 

 

The conversation over whether to rebuild or renovate was put on the back burner as officials moved forward with plans to at least get the roof fixed. 

 

Article 12 will require a two-thirds vote at town meeting to authorize borrowing for the roof's design and construction. It will also require a special ballot election to exclude the borrowing from Proposition 2 1/2. This was most recently done when the town took out $1 million in 2019 for work on the roads and the school. The debt on that has been cleared. 

 

The bid the for roof was granted to Wooliver & Sons, pending borrowing approval. Article 13 asks to transfer $113,371 from the school roof stabilization fund for use in the roof replacement.

 

Officials have been concerned that while the bid from Wooliver is $400,000, the extent of repair will not be known until the work begins his summer. 

 

The total town budget is up $286,598, or about 5.6 percent, over this year, to $5,386,082. 

 

The operating budget is $1,862,872, up $94,217, or 5 percent, largely driven by increased costs and wages. 

 

It includes a full-time assessor at a cost of between $58,000 and $61,000; a part-time grant writer at $5,000; and a contract with the Berkshire Public Health Alliance, a collaborative through the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, at $8,500.

 

Town officials are hoping the added positions will help pay for themselves through grants, evaluations and the imposition of fines and fees. 

 

The school budget is $3,085,643, up $118,034, or 4 percent. This number was endorsed by the Select Board and Finance Committee after nearly $130,000 in reductions from the draft budget. 

 

The school budget does keep free preschool tuition in place for Clarksburg residents and maintains an interventionist and dean of students. 

 

The McCann Technical School assessment is up $74,347, to $437,567. This number is driven by enrollment figures. The regional school's total budget is $12,653,337, which increased 4.63 percent over this fiscal year.

 

Voters will also be asked to transfer free cash amounts of $172,000 to offset the budget and $828 to stabilization. The latter figure is a placeholder as free cash had not yet been certified by the state. This is expected to be amended on the floor. 

 

Bylaws are also on the warrant for dogs and junk vehicles.

 

Article 14 would tighten up restrictions on unregistered and junk vehicles in the zoning bylaws. Only one "junk" vehicle may be kept screened on a property and no more than one unregistered vehicle each in public view and screened. Commercial and industrial property owners can keep up to three out of view. 

 

Enforcement of the bylaw is shifted to the Berkshire Health Alliance and/or the building inspector.

 

The dog bylaws call for the animals to be restrained and their litter to be picked up off public areas and sets fines for violations at $50; fines for excessive barking at $25 first offense and $50 second and fines for transporting/housing unlicensed animals at $50 per day; and sets an inspection for a kennel license of $50, to be completed before the license is issued.

 

Dogs would also be banned from public playing fields, playgrounds, parks and cemeteries unless otherwise stated. This does not apply to recognized service animals.