• Barre town meeting supports capital improvement plan, reduced school budget

• By Bradford L. Miner
  Correspondent

  
  Posted Jun. 22, 2016 at 11:17 AM
  
  

  BARRE — More than 230 voters at annual town meeting Tuesday approved an FY ’17 budget of $10.48 million and launched a five-year, $10.6 million Capital Improvement Plan.

  The 3½ hour session in the Ruggles Lane School auditorium included a ballot vote on the $5.17 million Quabbin Regional School District assessment, a 6.5 percent increase over current spending levels.

  Recommended by the Finance Committee, the Quabbin assessment was approved 184-54. Barre joined the four other district towns, Hubbardston, Hardwick, Oakham and New Braintree in approving amounts less than requested by the school committee.

  The school committee meets at 7 p.m. June 23 at the Quabbin Education Center and the $34 million budget is one of the items on the agenda.

  Superintendent Maureen M. Marshall told voters that $1.5 million in special education out-of-district placements and state-mandated services was an unprecedented “budget breaker” for the district.

  “These are costs over which the district has no control and to reduce the budget by $1 million to make the assessments affordable by our towns, every line item will be examined and our current level of services will be reduced,” Mrs. Marshall said.

  She said increased class sizes, longer bus routes, changes in the art, music, and physical education programs at all levels are likely the result of the cuts necessary.

  Charles Miller, Barre's representative to the Quabbin school committee, told voters that federal and state assistance to school districts had steadily declined and as a result the burden had been shifted to the towns.

  David Tuttle, finance committee chairman, told voters that all spending decisions at the meeting, including the school budget, represented less than an 80-cent increase in the tax rate.

  The Capital Improvement Plan, drafted by the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, calls for spending on town facilities, parks and open space, roads and sidewalks, vehicles and equipment, and water and sewer infrastructure and is reviewed and updated annually.

  Voters approved $212,000 to replace the ambulance, $210,000 for self-contained breathing apparatus for the Fire Department, $100,000 to replace Engine One, $14,500 for parking at Nornay Park in South Barre, $50,000 each for pickup trucks with plows for the Water Department, Sewer Department and Highway Department, and $25,000 for a vapor barrier at the Senior Center.

  Other capital spending included $200,000 for a solar array for the roof of the Department of Public Works building, $95,000 for ventilation and building improvements at Fire Station 1 and $35,000 for ventilation at Fire Station 2, $60,000 for a one-ton plow truck for the Highway Department, and $40,000 for a police cruiser.

  In a nonbinding vote on a citizen petition, a majority of voters supported Fire Chief Joseph Rogowski maintaining his current status as the town’s full-time fire chief at the current pay rate.

  Town Counsel James Baird explained that request had no legal standing as voters could not mandate action that was the sole authority of the Board of Selectmen.

  Voters approved zoning bylaw changes that would allow studios, galleries and arts and crafts businesses in an R-15 district by special permit.

  On the advice of Mr. Baird, voters approved five articles that added regulations governing solar energy facilities to the zoning bylaw.