WARRANT ARTICLE SYNOPSES

TOWN OF TEMPLETON 

WARRANT ARTICLE SYNOPSES 

MARCH 29, 2014

ARTICLE 1 Due to a lack of accurate data during the budget process, the budget for Fiscal 2014 (July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2014), adopted at the May 14, 2013 Annual Town Meeting, is short by $505,000. This article would appropriate $505,000 in additional property taxes to fund the budget shortfall. The additional taxes would be raised through a General Override of M.G.L, Ch. 59 § 21C, known as Proposition 2 1⁄2. A positive vote at the Town Meeting to override the tax cap must be confirmed by the voters of the Town in an election. 

Massachusetts law requires every city and town to have a balanced budget. A balanced budget must be certified by the Commonwealth Department of Revenue before tax bills can be sent out. If the budget gap in the current year cannot be closed and a balanced budget certified by the DOR, the Town will be unable to collect taxes and will continue to provide municipal services using borrowed money. 

If the Town does not approve a General Override to cover the budget deficit, Articles 2, 3 and 4 on this Warrant must be utilized to fill the gap with one-time revenues such as Free Cash and the StabilizationFund. One time revenues will be supplemented with severe reductions in departmental budgets and major cuts in services to the residents. 

The Town has a “structural” or permanent deficit. The amount of recurring revenue from property taxes, fees and state aid is consistently less than the amount required to support the operating budget. The Town has used non-recurring or one time revenues, mainly Free Cash, to cover the gap for nearly 10 years. This is considered an unsound fiscal practice and is often associated with financial crisis. It worked in fiscal years 2007-10 when free cash averaged nearly $700,000 per year. Last year, however, Free Cash was certified at only $100,000, and it is in short supply in the current year. 

If required to balance the FY’14 budget with one time revenues, the Town’s structural deficit will persist, and there will be another budget shortfall in FY’15. The real solution to the budget crisis is for the Town to approve additional revenues.

 

ARTICLE 2 This article would permit the Board of Selectmen to propose spending cuts to the Fiscal 2014 General Fund budget and to the Firefighters/EMT budget to offset the revenue shortfall of $505,000. Impact Statements

ARTICLE 3 This article would permit the Town to transfer funds from free cash or any other source to fund part of the shortfall in the Fiscal 2014 operating budget.

ARTICLE 4 This article would permit the Town to transfer funds from the Stabilization Fund to fund part of the shortfall in the Fiscal 2014 operating budget. The main Stabilization Funds contains $103,000. A 2/3rds vote of the Town Meeting is required to transfer monies out of Stabilization.  

ARTICLE 5 This article requests Town approval of the Three Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollar ($3,500,000) borrowing, previously authorized by vote of the Narragansett Regional School District on March 5, 2014. The $3.5 million borrowing would pay the cost of: 1) replacing the existing oil-fired boilers serving the High and Middle Schools with a woodchip-fired boiler, to be located in the existing boiler room; 2) construction of a woodchip storage facility to be located adjacent to the boiler room; and 3) all other costs incidental and related to the project. 

ARTICLE 6 This article requests that the Town appropriate the amount of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) for the purpose of paying costs of the Schematic Design portion of the Feasibility Study for the Templeton Elementary School, located off Route 202, King Philips Trail, known as Crow's Hill, identified as Town Assessor identification no. 2-7-40 and described in the deed recorded at the Worcester County Registry of Deeds in Book 1600, Page 313. 

This includes the payment of all costs incidental or related to the project and for which the Town may be eligible for a grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (“MSBA”), which would be expended under the direction of Templeton Elementary School Building Committee. To meet this appropriation, the Templeton Board of Selectmen, would be authorized to borrow $500,000 under M.G.L. Chapter 44, or pursuant to any other enabling authority.

The MSBA’s grant program is a non-entitlement, discretionary program based on need, as determined by the MSBA. Any costs the Town incurs in excess of any grant approved by and received from the MSBA shall be the sole responsibility of the Town. The requested appropriation will be subject to and contingent upon an affirmative vote of the Town to exempt the amounts required for the payment of interest and principal on the borrowing from the limitations on taxes imposed by M.G.L., Ch. 59 § 21C (Proposition 21⁄2), and that the amount of borrowing authorized pursuant to this vote shall be reduced by any grant amount set forth in the Feasibility Study Agreement that may be executed between the Town and the MSBA.

 

ARTICLE 7 This article would grant approval to the Fire/Ems Department to use $57,000 from receipts reserved for appropriation to fund the first year of a 5 year lease/purchase of an equipped ambulance for the Fire Department. No tax dollars would be involved. “Receipts reserved for appropriation” is an account outside the General Fund to collect fees from ambulance services. 

 

ARTICLE 8 This article would consolidate the Treasurer’s Office and the Collector’s Office to create a Treasurer/Collector position and an Assistant Treasurer/Collector. The article is sponsored by the Advisory Board and would align the Town with the majority of communities in Massachusetts that have combined Treasurer/Collectors. The consolidation would provide better coordination of these closely related municipal services and some modest cost savings in the future. 

ARTICLE 9 This article asks the Town to reaffirm votes taken under Articles 23 and 24 of the May 14, 2013 Annual Town Meeting transferring a total of $170,000 from retained earnings in the Sewer Department Enterprise Fund to pay for costs associated with the Town’s application for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Revolving Fund loan, necessary for the abandonment of the wastewater treatment lagoon, and to pay for the purchase of a used sludge hauling truck.

The re-vote is necessary because the Town may only use or transfer “retained earnings” in the Sewer Enterprise Fund after the total amount in the Fund has been certified by the MA Department of Revenue. Town Meeting transferred monies from the retained earnings account on May 14, but DOR certification was not granted until June 19.

 

 

Please attend the

 Special Town Meeting

March 29, 2014 @ 10:00 am