The budget proposal and warrant articles are available at the Select Board office at Town Hall, and responsible voters really need to study them before the vote. Obviously we are in tight financial straits. We must carefully preserve the funds we have and seek additional revenues if possible. Plans for mailing all warrant articles in advance to town voters are uncertain due to cost cutting concerns.
As background to the debate over the proposed change in town policy regarding use of current use tax receipts, the Selectmen, led by Chairman Sheldon Sawyer, say they are seeking to create an emergency fund for unanticipated town expenses such as the large March Hill Road collapse last year for which the town did not have immediate repair funds. They propose to create such an emergency fund by stripping the Conservation Commission of its source of future funds for use in conservation projects once current funds are exhausted. This would a major change in town policy voted in by the voters in 2001. Sawyer described the proposal as asking the question "What's more important: conservation or fixing roads?" The proposed change would take authority for using the first $25K of current use taxes collected in a given year (last year $14K in total was collected) and place ALL such taxes collected solely in the hands of the selectmen. Sawyer did argue at Monday evening's meeting that such funds might also, in the future, be used for conservation projects, but the proposed warrant article does not say that and it would only be in the discretion of the selectmen, not the Conservation Commission. Sawyer also conceded that the state Department of Revenue Administration had advised that this change in application of current use tax receipts would not be legal. CCB
2-9-09
Walpole Wrangles Over Land Use Tax Uses
By Chuck Bingaman, Contributing Writer
Thirty-five townspeople, including chairs and members of several town boards,struggled through Walpole’s budget hearing last night, finding areas of agreement and patches of rancorous dispute.
Select Board Chair Sheldon Sawyer noted that the selectmen had sought “level funding” throughout the budget in light of uncertain town revenues for 2009 and the needs to make at least some expense increases.
Proposed general fund expenditures reviewed in the meeting for 2009 will be $2,843,547. Counting water and sewer department expenditures and proposed warrant articles totaling $171,630 if passed, the total town budget would be $3,439,286, a decrease of $318,359 or 8.47% from 2008.
“We tried not to cut anybody or anything, but we did try not to raise any costs either,” announced Sawyer. “This budget does not raise the salary of any town employee. But they HAVE done a great job for us. So we have decided to give every full-time town employee a $350 ‘stipend’ if the town approves the proposed budget.”
The evening’s longest, most heated debate occurred when Sawyer presented two proposed warrant articles seeking to change the town policy on Land Use Change taxes. Based on a town vote in 2001, the first $25,000 of current use change taxes the town collects each year, if any, are designated for the Conservation Commission which can use the funds for acquisition of land for conservation or related expenses. While the actual amount of land use change taxes varies widely each year, the town collected over $14,000 in 2008 and the total fund currently is over $47,000.
Sawyer proposed new warrant articles, one rescinding the 2001 vote and one setting up a new “Unanticipated Expendable Town Trust Fund” to receive all land use change taxes and to be used in the future for unanticipated emergencies or possible Conservation Commission requests, the latter not being mentioned in the text of the draft article. And the Selectmen would be the sole “agents” of the new fund.
Sawyer conceded that the state Department of Revenue Administration had advised that such a fund would not be legal and that, in his view, the question was whether conservation or emergency town needs were more important. Conservation Commission chair Marcia Galloway replied that, “I think it’s foolish to evade state law.” Commission member Mel Schupack said the proposed change “would emasculate the Conservation Commission.” Planning Board Chair Jeff Miller pointed out that recent surveys of townspeople consistently show that preserving the rural nature of the town—through having the Commission able to purchase open land—is the top priority of a large majority of the populace.”
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