ASHBURNHAM — The town is recouping and is slowly digging its way out of its fiscal crises. During Town Meeting on Monday at 7 p.m., voters will be asked to dip into stabilization to help fund the actions taken to bring back fiscal stability.

There are only three articles on the Town Warrant. The first two articles concern the funding for the town administrator and the auditing firm that came to unravel the town finances for the last two years. A stronger hand will take over as the new accountant and town manager are about set to start in January.

The first article on the warrant seeks $90,000, with $75,000 going for the new town administrator, and the rest to be used to offset what was paid to the previous town administrator to satisfy the contract.

The second article deals with auditor costs which will be roughly $44,000. Acting Town Administrator Mary Calandrella said they had only allocated funds for the previous auditor and when they had to hire another auditing firm, it cost $12,000 more per year.

Both articles would be coming directly out of stabilization which currently holds approximately $281,000.

“We are getting down to what I would say was dangerously low,” said Advisory Chairman Ronald Putnam. “We have no other alternative or other source of funding.”

The advisory board discussed funds from free cash that would be returned first to stabilization before funding anything else unless it is critical.

Both the Advisory Board and Board of Selectmen voted to return cash first to replenish stabilization and Capital Funds before spending.

The third article is a vote to accept a land grant from the state for the purchase of Jewell Hill. The state grant would permanently protect the Jewell Hill Farm, an unprotected 300-acre property in Ashburnham, Ashby and Fitchburg. Select board Chairman Rosemarie Meissner explained that the trustees of reservations are working on providing the town with what would possibly be a short-term loan (60 days) between the closing of the property on May 1 until the release of the grant funds by the state.

“There will be no interest charges to us,” said Meissner. “It’s a zero net-cost deal for us.”

Putnam told the boards that the property only brought $300 in taxes per year to the town.

Meissner explained that because it was agricultural property, there were not a lot of taxes realized by the town.

The advisory board voted to recommend.

Calandrella said she has been in constant contact with the Department of Revenue. The town filed its tax recap December 4, and the tax rate will be hopefully certified soon after. Tax bills will be sent out directly after. Free cash looked to be $819,000. The town is waiting for the DOR certification.

The 2019 audit is almost complete. Calandrella said the draft audit should be sent by auditors in January.

“We are looking pretty good at this point,” said Calandrella.

Meissner noted that the $819,000 could not be released because of most (approximately $600,000) is under tax lien. She said they had to wait for everything to clear through court.

In other news

Calandrella had only been seated as acting town manager for three days when the first snowstorm hit.

“Since it’s only been day three, I was off to a very snowy start with 30″ of snow that hit the town of Ashburnham. We hit the jackpot! It was the top five storms in the 100 year history of record keeping for Ashburnham,” Calandrella declared.

She thanked the Department of Public Works for all their hard work.

The town was awarded $54,000 for a new van for the Council on Ageing. Calandrella thanked COA Coordinator Janet Robbins for applying for the grant.

“It couldn’t have come at a better time because the one we’ve got is pretty much limping on its last tire,” she laughed.