With Town Meeting Day on the horizon, board discusses format, budget, ARPA requests
January 23, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti The Waterbury Select Board is coming down the wire on decisions needed to prepare for Town Meeting Day on March 7.
Next Monday, Jan. 30, is the deadline for candidates to file petitions to get on the Town Meeting Day ballot. It also will be the board’s final meeting to sign off on the warning that will outline the format for the meeting and all of the questions to put before Waterbury voters.
Tonight’s board meeting at 7 p.m. in the Steele Community Room at the town offices and online via Zoom will include discussion of several key items still to be decided, starting with the format for town meeting.
Until 2020, Waterbury held an in-person meeting where those present voted on financial matters including the town budget. Elections to fill town and school offices and voting on school district business were done by paper ballot available all day for voters.
Last week, the state Legislature passed a bill that would allow cities and towns to skip or delay in-person meetings this year and next, extending the exceptions it made for the COVID-19 pandemic. Waterbury in 2021 and 2022 did not hold an in-person meeting. All questions were voted by paper ballot.
Whether Waterbury resumes its in-person meeting this year or again puts all questions on paper ballots that voters can vote all day is one decision the board must make. Board members had a brief discussion at their meeting last Thursday and will continue that tonight.
Another key category of decisions the board needs to finalize involves the allocation of federal economic recovery funds. The board has been soliciting input regarding how the town should spend about $1.22 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds remaining from the $1.54 million that it has received.
Some of the ARPA economic recovery dollars have already been spent: voters on Town Meeting Day last year approved $100,000 for the Ice Center; $95,000 was used in the 2022 town highway budget; $50,000 was allocated to CVFiber for expanding broadband internet service in the community. The board has pledged $76,000 to Waterbury Ambulance Service for its new station construction project and has discussed making that a question on the Town Meeting Day ballot for voters to decide.
If the latter is approved, that would leave $1,224,964 unallocated. In recent weeks, the board has received multiple requests for appropriations. The board will determine which to make and whether to ask for voter approval on any of them individually or to include the spending in the overall town budget for the year.
The list of requests for ARPA funds includes:
$300,000 from the Edward Farrar Utility District for lost revenue over the past two years due to fees it waived for water and wastewater customers during the pandemic.
$100,000 from Downstreet Housing & Community Development to assist with the construction of two dozen apartment units of affordable housing at 51 South Main Street. EFUD voters last fall approved selling the property that was the former home to the municipal offices prior to Tropical Storm Irene to Downstreet for its assessed value of $138,000. Downstreet project managers say they are aiming to have design and permitting as well as funding in place to begin construction in early 2024.
$25,000 from the Waterbury Area Senior Center to help upgrade its kitchen. Town Manager Tom Leitz has suggested the request is too low.
$6,000 from the Spring Hill School in Waitsfield.
In addition to requests, other areas town staff have proposed to fund with ARPA dollars include:
$435,000 for town bridge maintenance and repairs
$200,000 for work on a property reappraisal
$30,000 to use toward gravel road maintenance in the town budget
Tonight’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. The link to join online via Zoom is on the meeting agenda.
Correction: A typo in the amount of ARPA funds dedicated to the town highway budget in 2022 was corrected to $95,000.