Sunday, February 28, 2016

In case you have forgotten;
from Special Town meeting of March 29, 2014.


ARTICLE 5 To see if the Town will vote to approve or disapprove the three million, five hundred thousand dollar ($3,500,000.00) debt authorized by vote of the Narragansett Regional School District on March 5, 2014 to pay costs of (i) replacing the existing oil-fired boilers serving the High and Middle Schools with a wood chip-fired boiler, to be located in the existing boiler room, (ii) construction of a wood chip storage facility to be located adjacent to the boiler room, and (iii) all other costs incidental and related thereto, or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Select board at the request of the School Committee.  A motion was duly made and seconded to allow a short presentation. A motion was duly made and seconded to move the question.

 Passed/March 29th @ 12:20

A substitute motion was duly made and seconded that the town vote that three million, five hundred thousand dollars ($3,500,000.00) debt authorized by vote of the Narragansett Regional School District on March 5, 2014 to pay costs of (i) replacing the 3 existing oil-fired boilers serving the High and Middle Schools with a wood chip-fired boiler, to be located in the existing boiler room, (ii) construction of a wood chip storage facility to be located adjacent to the boiler room, and (iii) all other costs incidental and related thereto, be hereby approved.

Passed/March 29th @ 12:21

The debt for the high school addition may be coming off in 2019 but this amount will still be coming out of the towns budget which equals that much less available for the Town to have for services and departments. I believe the pitch was money saved on fuel would pay the costs but the bond offering seems to indicate otherwise.  

Municipal Bond Offerings | Edward Jones


click on the link and look for offering for Narragansett regional school district.

Jeff Bennett
Do not forget this. . . .

Bonds for the Bio mass system and you can find details here;



Municipal Bond Offerings | Edward Jones


click on that link and under current bond offerings, you look for Narragansett Regional school district and click on that and read and enjoy.

Some information in that document is as follows;

Fiscal 2016 Operating costs, showing the Town, % of total and its share


                             Fiscal 2016                                                           Fiscal 2016

Town                 Operating costs          % of total                    capital costs                 % of total

Phillipston        $1,546,129.00                22.26                         $  94,262.00                   17.97

Templeton          5,398,510.00                77.74                           430,553.00                    82.03



                              Fiscal 2015                                                            Fiscal 2015

Town                  Operating costs          % of total                       capital costs              % of total

Phillipston           $1,510,958.00               22.751                        $  92,584.00                  17.65

Templeton              5,130,328.00              77.249                           431,969.00                  82.35



Apportionment of debt service on the bonds

        The payment of pinciple and interest on the bonds will be apportioned to the member towns. Payments of principal and interest on the bonds are to be apportioned to the member towns as a capital cost on the basis described above. The apportionment for fiscal 2016 will be as follows:

Town                                           % of total

Templeton                                       82.03

Phillipston                                       17.97

I think it is time for the Board of Selectmen to vote to increase the Phillipston share of Templeton dispatch costs. If Phillipston share is not in the 100 thousand dollar range yet,  it needs to be increased to that range now. Since Templeton pays 80 % of freight on the school, I feel Phillipston should pay more for dispatch services, as Phillipston has no expense of a building, equipment, benefits nor debt service for the new addition to the police station. Time for selectmen of Templeton to look out for benefit of Templeton taxpayers and demand more funding from Phillipston txpayers. I see this as only fair since dispatch costs for the Templeton taxpayers have increased significantly.

Sounds like another question for Templeton selectmen to answer.

Jeff bennett
Announcing New Complete Streets Funding Program

 The new Complete Streets Funding Program, authorized by the 2014 Transportation Bond Bill, offers Massachusetts municipalities incentives to adopt policies and practices that provide safe and accessible options for all travel modes – walking, biking, transit and vehicles – for people of all ages and abilities. Online Portal MassDOT has launched an interactive web portal to assist municipalities through the policy development, prioritization planning, and project approval steps of the application process. In addition, a Complete Streets Funding Program Guidance document, explaining the program requirements, model policy guidance and scoring system, and eligible infrastructure, is available online.
 Primary Requirements To be eligible for up to $50,000 in technical assistance and up to $400,000 in construction funding, a municipality must meet three primary requirements:
 • Attendance of a municipal employee at a Complete Streets training
 • Passage of a Complete Streets Policy that scores 80 or above out of a possible 100 points (Tier 1)
 • Development of a Complete Streets Prioritization Plan (Tier 2)

MassDOT offers technical assistance to conduct a needs assessment, network gap analysis, and/or safety audit to determine a targeted investment strategy for Complete Streets infrastructure. Upon completion of these requirements, a municipality is eligible for construction funds (Tier 3). Reimbursement for technical assistance and project funding will be managed by the appropriate Highway District Local Aid Office. Available Funding: $12.5M total for FY16 and FY17 (must be spent by June 30, 2017). Community Compact Cabinet Four points will be automatically added to the policy scores of all Community Compact Cabinet members, and any Community Compact member that has selected Complete Streets as one of its best practices will receive an additional four points. For more information and to register to become a Complete

From Mass. DOT site

Jeff Bennett