With some small amendments to the proposed spending plan, Mason Town Meeting voters passed the budget and the majority of the warrant on Saturday, only turning down two petition articles.
Moderator Dotsie Millbrandt said there were several amendments offered throughout the meeting, but the only ones that passed were offered by members of the Select Board on the budget warrant article.
Those amendments, which were all approved in voice votes, were to increase the Fire Department line for air bottles by $6,499, bringing the total to $6,500, and increase the budget for the Highway Department by $10,000 for salt and $7,000 for edges for plow blades.
The total budget, after these adjustments, was $2.9 million, and it passed in a voice vote.
The meeting passed several articles to purchase new equipment, including $120,000 from the town’s unexpended fund balance at the end of the year for a new pumper truck for the Fire Department and $40,000 for a new highway tractor mower.
Voters also approved $41,000 for the second phase of communications upgrades, for a repeater site to the Mason police channel. In a separate article, voters also agreed to spend $8,000 for mobile data terminals to access databases and communicate with dispatch in the field.
There were several articles on the warrant this year dealing with proposed changes in tax exemptions. The first was to modify the optional veterans tax credit from $500 per year to $750 per year. This passed in a voice vote.
The second was to increase the optional veterans disability property tax credit from $2,000 to $5,000 per year. According to Millbrandt, an amendment was offered on this article, which would have increased the credit by a smaller amount, setting it at $2,750, but the amendment failed in a voice vote and the article passed as written.
The third article was to change how the land use change tax percentage is split. The vote was to authorize 75% of the tax to be put into the existing conservation fund and 25% into the general fund. An amendment was offered to switch the split — 25% to the conservation fund and 75% to the general fund. The voice vote on the amendment was too close to call, said Millbrandt, and in a standing count, the amendment narrowly failed, 29 yes and 31 no. The article then passed as written.
Several capital reserve additions were approved, including $10,000 for highway equipment, $10,000 for water hold maintenance and $8,236 for the Town Hall renovation. Voters also agreed to establish a new capital reserve of $1,000 for energy-related improvements to town buildings.
Voters also approved closing some capital reserve funds, including the highway building, highway construction and police cruiser funds, and transferring any remaining funds or interest into the general fund.
The only articles of the day that failed were two filed by petitions.
The first was to request the town to call on legislators “to protect taxpayers by requiring the Education Freedom Account program to provide fiscal and educational performance reports comparable to those required of public schools, and by limiting eligibility to families with demonstrated financial need.”
The second was to call on the legislature to ensure adequate state revenues for essential services and to avoid policies that shift costs onto local property taxpayers.
Both articles were spoken to by petitioner Kathy Chapman, and generated significant discussion on both sides of the issues, said Millbrandt. One of the prevailing opinions was that these kinds of questions were not germane to Town Meeting. Both questions failed in voice vote.