Northborough voters to vote on 41 warrant articles at Annual Town Meeting

229

Northborough voters to vote on 41 warrant articles at Annual Town MeetingBy Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter

Northborough – The Annual Town Meeting will convene Monday, April 22, at 7:30 p.m. at Algonquin Regional High School, 79 Bartlett St. Although only registered voters are eligible to vote, all residents are welcome to attend.

The warrant is made up of 41 articles, including funding the $66 million operating budget, a $4.9 million capital budget containing provisions for Phase I of the new Fire Station, routine standing municipal accounts including Free Cash, Water, Sewer and Solid Waste enterprise funds, Community Preservation Act allocations, assorted zoning amendments, and voting on seven citizen petitions.

A summary of the warrant is as follows:

Articles 6, 7 and 8 pertain to school funding: Northborough K-8 Schools ($24,928,558), Algonquin Regional High School ($12,873,956), and Assabet Valley Regional Vocational School District Budgets ($836,310).

Articles 9, 10 and 11 regard authorization of revolving funds’ annual expenditure limits, the Appropriations Committee Reserve Fund and transfer of $200,000 from Free Cash to the Stabilization Fund.

The Capital Budget seeks, through articles 12 – 20, allocations for a police cruiser replacement, a 2012 ambulance replacement, a 2000 one-ton pickup truck with plow, a 1999 20-ton dump truck with spreader and plow, and road improvements and maintenance for $300,000 to supplement Chapter 90 funding.

Additionally, funds for renovations and expansion to the Water & Sewer Garage are sought in Article 17 and rehabilitation for the Assabet Hill Tank in Article 18. Both are funded from Water Enterprise Free Cash.

Article 19 seeks $185,000 from Free Cash to fund K-8 schools communications and security enhancements.

Article 20 seeks $3.5 million for the new Fire Station Building Project, specifically for land acquisition, fees and design. Since this involves a debt exclusion, a Ballot Question will appear on the May 14 Municipal Election.

Articles 21 through 26, totaling $718,000 are for Community Preservation Act allocations, including historic site signs, markers, and phase II of lighting at Robert E. Melican Middle School.

There are also seven wetlands and zoning bylaw articles, 27 through 33, and seven citizen petitions, including seeking town-wide plastic bag and polystyrene reductions, to allow Sunday alcohol service for certain establishments and to amend Town Meeting start time to 7 p.m.

For more information on the 2019 Annual Town Meeting and warrant, visit http://www.town.northborough.ma.us.

 

No posts to display