By Keith Regan, Contributing Writer
Westborough–Voters at the special Fall town meeting spent generously on several initiatives to restore the town’s history and upgrade infrastructure, but rebuffed the School Department’s bid to drill a well to irrigate playing fields at the Mill Pond School.
The gathering of fewer than 200 voters may have been put into a spending mood by the positive financial news presented by Town Manager Jim Malloy, who said the average Westborough tax bill for fiscal year 2015 will decrease by $90 compared to last year.
Malloy contrasted that with the recent disclosure that the average Shrewsbury tax bill will rise by more than $500.
“We are in an enviable position,” he said.
Malloy credited financial policies with giving the town flexibility to continue to invest in projects, even as major work such as a new fire station and a town hall renovation continue.
Advisory Finance Committee (AFC) chair Gary Wells added that while the tax decrease is a token amount, it “affords taxpayers a respite from continuously higher tax rates and tax bills.”
“We have been the beneficiaries of improvements in the local economy, but we should not assume the windfalls we have seen this year will be repeated,” he said.
Voters quickly approved several articles that included raising or transferring funds, including $68,655 to cover the 2 percent raises contained in a new firefighters contract; $23,000 to replace funds the Westborough Public Library has spent on repairs for a new HVAC system that is the subject of legal action; and $15,731 to replace a fingerprint scanning system at the police department with updated technology.
Voters spent nearly an hour debating two articles seeking to preserve the town’s history before eventually agreeing to spend $10,600 to digitize historic town records and $9,000 to repair a number of historic frames discovered when the town moved out of the old fire station.
The AFC had recommended against the frame restoration project and a number of voters questioned the value of the restoration to the town.
But Mayberry Road resident Anna Tortora seemed to be speaking for the majority when she argued that the town has already lost significant parts of its history to redevelopment and growth.
“All over our history in this town is being dwindled. I want to see history being preserved instead of being torn down for once,” she said.
In the end, that article passed by a count of 126 to 28.
Voters did hold the line at times, rebuffing the School Department on its proposal to drill an irrigation well at the Mill Pond School. An article seeking $50,000 for that purpose was defeated.
Several voters questioned the wisdom of drilling a new well at a time when summer regularly brings outdoor watering restrictions, while others suggested piping water from Mill Pond itself would be a more economical solution.
Both the Board of Selectmen and the AFC had recommended against the measure, suggesting it was an example of the School Department avoiding the traditional process of taking large-scale projects before the Capital Appropriations Committee, though school officials said timing made that impossible. In the end, a motion to approve the article fell by a count of 63 in favor to 81 opposed.
The School Department did not come away empty-handed, however, with voters approving $90,000 to improve Wi-Fi access at the high school, $55,000 to install new heating control systems and $89,500 to cover the increased costs contained in new teachers and support staff contracts.
Voters also approved $11,804 to hire a fourth part-time van driver for the Council on Aging, though the approval comes with the requirement that the COA develop a long-term transportation plan to show selectmen early next year.