Manchester floor meeting approves budget

Andrew McKeever

GNAT-TV News Project

MANCHESTER — The roughly 150 voters who attended the municipal portion of Manchester’s town meeting Saturday, March 4, at the gymnasium inside the Manchester elementary Middle School, voted approval of all major spending items on the warning.

After some discussion where questions were raised about municipal salaries and an explanation about a tentative agreement reached with the Manchester Rescue Squad offered, voters backed both the $4.6 milion town operating budget and a separate $896,000 capital budget, although not unanimously when the voice voice was called. However, the scattered “nay” votes were not sufficient to prompt Michael Nawrath, the town moderator, to call for a paper ballot to affirm the results.

In the budget overview contained in the town report, the budgets, which together result in about $5.5 million in town spending, will result in a municipal tax rate increase of about half a penny on $100 of assessed property value, from $0.2391 to $0.2446. This tax rate does not include the impact of other voted appropriations determined by Australian ballot voting on Tuesday, March 7, when an additional $245,000 in municipal spending will be decided.

The budget will be financed from property tax revenues totalling slightly more than $2.9  million and about $2.6 million in non-property tax revenues, much of which is derived from the local option taxes levied on sales, rooms, meals and alcohol sales.

Projections about the long term viability of the local option taxes were questioned by Lesley “Red” Cole, who wondered if a recent spate of store closings boded well for the reliability of that revenue source.

Select Board Chairman Ivan Beattie said he felt confident that the revenue projections would hold.

He noted that the town didn’t receive option tax revenue from sales at clothing stores, which make up the bulk of the some of the stores, like Coach and Banana Republic, which recently announced they were shutting their doors locally. In any event, sales tax revenue rose in the first three quarter of the current fiscal year, before declining the the last quarter. He said he felt comfortable the town was still living within its means when it came to that funding source.

The town can also offset drops in revenue from local option tax by drawing from the town’s reserve funds, although that would not be an option every year, he added.

Rooms, meals and alcohol sales tax revenue has been rising, even if sales tax revenue on commodities were not.

“When sales are down, people drink more,” he said jokingly to a round of laughter.

Following an extended discussion lasting about 40 minutes, voters authorized the town to draw upon $160,000 from the town’s Capital Improvement Reserve and Contingency Fund to purchase a 7.66 acre parcel of land currently owned by the Christ our Savior Parish that adjoined the town’s recreation park. That sale is contingent on the church and the town coming to an agreement on the sale of the property, which has not yet been finalized.

One issue the town wants to establish is that there are no lingering issues from earlier evidence of soil contamination discovered  when the Mark Skinner Library explored the site as a possible location for the new library several years ago. Largely because of concerns about the extent of the possible contamination, the library’s director’s passed on the site, and the new library was eventually built on Cemetery Avenue.

The site is primarily intended for overflow  parking for events staged at the Rec Park, and possibly some recreational structures as well, said Town Manager John O’Keefe, who described the proposal to those attending the floor meeting.

The possible contamination of the land wouldn’t be as big a factor for parking than would have been the case for other uses, but before the town would sign on to the purchase agreement, the town wanted to see the results of current environmental testing.

Currently the property is tax exempt since it is owned by the Catholic Church.

Andy Shaw drew a chuckle from the audience when he suggested that the town in its negotiations with the church over price might encourage the church to consider the thought that it was “more blessed to give than receive.”

Eventually, the voters gave a thumbs up to the town officials to continue the discussions on the property purchase.

Other items that received approval included $35,000 for enhanced signal equipment and streetlights as part of the overhaul of the Depot Street corridor project. Work on the corridor from the Roundabout to Highland avenue is anticipated to start next year. Voters also agreed to spend $15,000 for a softball field backstop and fencing at the Rec Park. Both of these items would be funded from the CIRC fund.

The school district’s portion of the informational floor meetings will be held Monday, March 6, also at the MEMS gym. That meeting will start at 7 p.m.

On Tuesday, March 7, voters will elect town officials for select board and school board. An authorization for a $3 million bond for sewer and water line improvements along Main Street in the town and village of Manchester. Voters will also decide on a budget request of $221,900 to support the Manchester Community Library. Voting at town hall will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters will also be deciding the fate of a school consolidation proposal under Act 46 that would create a new school district that includes Manchester, Dorset, Danby and six other towns.