Otis Selectboard and Finance Committee give preliminary approval to department budgets, excluding salaries

Otis — The Town of Otis Selectboard and Finance Committee met on Feb. 13, 2025, and preliminarily approved a series of departmental budget line items that did not include salary lines. The meeting, called to order at 6:05 p.m. in the Town Hall conference room, concluded at 7:41 p.m.

The boards approved multiple line items recorded in the meeting minutes. Notable items included a $202,500 allocation for snow and ice removal and a $224,750 contribution to Berkshire County Retirement. Other approved items included $19,000 for audit services; $66,200 for technology; $50,000 for gas and diesel; $55,500 for veterans services; and smaller allocations for conservation, planning, zoning, town hall operations and community programs. The minutes record each line item as “Passed” with the dollar amount approved.

The minutes also record that Finance Committee member Lisa D’Orazio recused herself (noted immediately after the elections line item). The entry for elections (line 162) shows $15,675 as approved; the recusal is recorded in the minutes and does not specify whether the recusal applied only to that line or to additional items.

Town Administrator Brandi Page is listed in the meeting record and signed the minutes. The meeting document explicitly notes that the budget approvals on the agenda were preliminary and did not include salary items; it does not record vote tallies, motions’ movers or seconders, or a detailed roll-call vote.

Next steps: the record lists these approvals as preliminary and excludes salary lines; the minutes do not state when final budget adoption or additional hearings on salaries will occur. The meeting adjourned at 7:41 p.m.