Review of Select Board Override Commitments
The Select Board Chair Eric Helmuth proposed two small changes to the overrides voted on by the Select Board. The first change was to delete “FY 24” from the title, since it created ambiguity about when the override would take effect. The second change was to update the effective date and reaffirm that the override would take effect on July 1, 2023.
The Chair explained that a typographical error was discovered in the ballot language for the November 7th override vote. Instead of specifying an effective date of July 1, 2023, the language said 2024. As a result, the tax increase would take effect in July 2024 instead of this coming winter/spring as originally planned. The Town would ask voters for $7 million less through FY26.
Rather than changing the language and delaying the election, the Select Board decided to proceed with the current language after consulting with the Town Manager. Recent positive financial developments enabled the Town to meet all Select Board commitments through FY26 even with the delayed override funds. The Town Manager elaborated on factors like higher than expected new growth and free cash, lower school enrollment growth, and salary savings from open positions.
The Select Board unanimously supported keeping the election date unchanged and agreed the Chair should represent that the entire Board is comfortable with this course of action.
Executive Session
The Select Board voted unanimously to enter executive session to discuss strategy related to impending litigation. They agreed that upon adjourning from executive session, the regular Select Board meeting would end and they would reconvene the Town Meeting session.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au_r3QVv4Fc