Newton select board sets default budget, approves warrant articles including $500,000 land purchase

Newton — The Newton select board on Tuesday set the town—s default operating budget at $4,963,126 and approved a slate of warrant articles that the board said voters will consider at deliberative session and on Town Meeting Day.

Paula (staff) told the board she had not been ready to approve the default at the last meeting because line items needed a line-by-line review. "I honestly wasn't ready to approve the default," Paula said, explaining that several salary and department lines had been transposed in earlier drafts and required correction. After revisions were made, the board moved to set the default at $4,963,126.

The select board also reviewed the proposed operating budget of $5,296,957.17. On the meeting spreadsheet the difference between the proposed and default budgets was recalculated to about $333,855.91; the board discussed that delta before approving the default figure.

Warrant articles read and approved as written include the operating budget article (Warrant Article 5) that presents the $5,296,957.17 figure and states that, if defeated, the default budget would apply. The board also approved an article (Warrant Article 6) authorizing the select board to acquire land on Marramac Road (tax map 12, lot 6, sublot 10) and to raise $500,000 for that acquisition: $250,000 from the town building capital reserve fund and $250,000 from general taxation. Board members said the $500,000 lump-sum figure was set by the other party and discussed financing it to reduce taxpayer impact.

Other warrant articles approved or advanced at the meeting included an article to raise $370,000 for 247 Fire/EMS (Warrant Article 7) and an article to establish a $40,000 contingency fund using the unassigned fund balance (Warrant Article 8). The board also read citizen-petition articles to support a Lake Coast program at the town boat ramp (about $6,031) and to raise $7,200 for maintenance of ball fields at Greeny Park; board members said they had already taken the necessary votes on those citizen petitions during the session.

The board decided not to present a separate $200,000 highway-paving article this year, discussing the trade-off of delaying paving work to keep the warrant package more palatable to voters and to prioritize the land purchase. Members warned residents that paving work would be limited this year if the paving article was removed.

Paula said she will input the final warrant language and budget numbers into DRA and print reports for the board to sign so the warning can be posted. The deliberative session is scheduled for Jan. 31 at 9:00 a.m. at town hall; voting is set for March 10 at the safety complex.

The board—s actions at the Jan. 20 meeting set the items that will appear on the warrant; final wording could change if the Department of Revenue Administration requires edits when those materials are submitted.