By Ann Needle
With few potentially controversial items to be voted on at the May 10 Annual Town Meeting (ATM), the yearly event for determining Town spending in the coming fiscal year saw all 47 articles passed by voters during the 3-hour session. The meeting resembled last year’s ATM, with little argument and lighter attendance.
Most of residents’ questions centered on Article 4’s $37,633,243-million Town operating budget, along with the heavy roster of $1,790,560 million in capital items in Articles 36. Many Town budget questions from the audience dealt with routine clarifications on precisely what was planned to be spent on some salary line items. Meanwhile, the capital spending issue promises to carry into coming years, with Capital Planning Chair Steve Jelinek explaining that the $1.79 million voted to be spent from Free Cash is estimated to grow to $2,867,000 next year. And, this year’s ATM also voted to borrow up to another $3.4 million for capital spending on the Lake Boon Dam project.
For more details from Saturday’s ATM, see the May 14 issue of the Independent.