There is a projected budget deficit for TCTV fiscal year 26. TCTV Steve Castle states TCTV has a PILOT from Templeton municipal light & water dept., but tctv cannot show Templeton light & water commission meetings live on face book or youtube or tv channel 8.

Town meeting asked to approve bylaw with an amendment: An amended motion was duly made and seconded to amend the motion by adding the following language after the final sentence: “In addition, no spouse of a sitting Select Board member shall serve in an appointed capacity on any Town board, commission, or committee whose recommendations, funding requests, personnel matters, or decisions are subject to the authority, review, approval, or oversight of the Select Board.” Passed/May 13th @ 7:26pm

So, how should it be if a town committee has a chairman where their wife is listed on the payroll of that committee?

Remember, the Advisory Committee exists per state law, their recommendations are for town meeting, town reserve fund amount is ultimately approved, or not, by town meeting, not select board. In fact, town meeting, being the legislative body of Templeton, has the final say on all matters put in front of them, so when attending town meeting. voters have the real responsibility to know what is in front of them and what the results could be with a yes or no vote on any motion put to the meeting. It is not anyone else's responsibility, it is each voter at town meeting to do their diligence to know what is going to be presented to them for a vote, same as the state legislature.

It is similar to buying a used car, do you really only want the pitch from the person selling the car, be it an individual or a salesperson, or do you take it to someplace for a second opinion, that is why finance committee, advisory committee exist in MA.

 

Since someone is interested in this old stuff, this is what was presented to select board back in January 2014, to show how a shortfall of $505,477.00 came to be in FY14.

To: wagnerd@dor.state.ma.us

Cc: townclerk@templeton1.org, jpb01468@comcast.net, dougmorrisonma@gmail.com, kcrobinson7@gmail.com, j_farrell@hotmail.com, assessors@templeton1.org, towncoordinator@templeton1.org, treasurer@templeton1.org, templetonadvisoryboard@gmail.com, 185wilberdr@gmail.com

Date: 12/10/2013 10:26 AM

Subject: Templeton Re-Cap

Good Morning Deb,

I know how busy you are, but I am hoping that you can help.  I have spoken with Luanne Royer about the recap and she mentioned that she spoke with you.  I was aware of everything that you pointed out to Luanne regarding the recap.  I have been working on this for weeks and I keep coming up with the same results.

In previous years the former Town Accountant prepared the budget forecast.  The Finance Board (advisory committee) prepared the FY14 budget using the former Accountants model, but it appears that some things were missed and as a result Templeton is 505k over the levy limit. I am confident that everything has been entered on the recap, but I need a sanity check.  I have done my own analysis which I have attached and summarized below.

1.      I am confident that everything has been entered on page 4. I have attached all town meeting minutes and my detailed breakdown for page 4

2.      Local Receipts have been adjusted.

3.      Page 3 Line 9 is blank because that number represents Ambulance receipts which are now Receipts Reserved for Appropriation voted ATM FY13 5/15/12 Article 30

4.      The 160k (other funds, Receipts Reserved) was used as a source but not included as an Expense on the budget document.

5.      I have attached my comparison between the budget forecast and the recap and summarized it below.

6.      Article 29 ATM 5/14/13......... Override vote 6/25/13 results attached

Summary - Comparison budget forecast & recap

(220,851)	Local Receipts, Debt & Retirement (See attached comparison)
(126,791)	Overstated Tax Levy (Forecast)
(160,000)	Ambulance ATM A#10 Not included in Expenses (Forecast)
28	Abatements Offsets Difference between Forecast/Recap
2,137	State Aid Difference between Forecast/Recap
(505,477)

accounting 

 FYI - Templeton Town Meeting warrant available online at town web site, under Town Clerk.

Meeting minutes are generally available online beginning mid 2013 forward at mytowngovernment.org.

Prior to that they are in paper copy retained permanently.

Town budgets permanently retained, prior to 2019, they were not separated electronically but generally can be found within the Town Meeting warrants. Up until annual town meeting of 2016, town budgets were line item, which would be thru fiscal year 2017 town budget.

There were no official voters guides until around 2018 annual town meeting. Prior to that it was just town meeting warrant and advisory committee recommendations.

 RUTLAND – Fol­low­ing a failed Pro­pos­i­tion 21⁄2 tax cap over­ride vote this month, the town’s pub­lic safety response will suf­fer “hor­rendously,” said Rut­land police and fire union lead­ers.

The town’s Fourth of July fest­iv­it­ies also face uncer­tainty, accord­ing to union lead­ers, who said their depart­ments may not be able to staff events as a res­ult of the over­ride.

The vote, which would have over­rode Pro­pos­i­tion 21⁄2 to help cover a pro­jec­ted $3.1 mil­lion defi­cit for the next fiscal year, fell short at the town elec­tion May 11, after res­id­ents were given three options to cover the defi­cit.

Four full-time and three part-time police officers are expec­ted to be cut from the Police Depart­ment, while the Fire Depart­ment could trim about a third of its force.

“This has been det­ri­mental to the mor­ale and no one is happy about this,” said Brent A. Car­penter, of the Rut­land’s police union. “We’re going to have huge safety con­cerns. It’s just dis­ap­point­ing.”

Car­penter said that the cuts to the depart­ment would include the loss of the K-9 and acci­dent recon­struc­tion units, as well as night-shift staff­ing.

He said the staff­ing cuts will be reflec­ted in the ser­vices to the pub­lic, which would be “a secur­ity issue at this point.”

“[Officers are] going to be solo and rely­ing on out­side agen­cies,” Car­penter said. “There will be a delay in ser­vice where if you have mul­tiple calls com­ing in at once, we have to take the pri­or­ity calls.

“Obvi­ously the people have spoken. We get it – nobody likes their taxes raised.”

Car­penter said cuts to staff could also bring about issues with recruit­ment.

 RUTLAND – Fol­low­ing a failed Pro­pos­i­tion 21⁄2 tax cap over­ride vote this month, the town’s pub­lic safety response will suf­fer “hor­rendously,” said Rut­land police and fire union lead­ers.

The town’s Fourth of July fest­iv­it­ies also face uncer­tainty, accord­ing to union lead­ers, who said their depart­ments may not be able to staff events as a res­ult of the over­ride.

The vote, which would have over­rode Pro­pos­i­tion 21⁄2 to help cover a pro­jec­ted $3.1 mil­lion defi­cit for the next fiscal year, fell short at the town elec­tion May 11, after res­id­ents were given three options to cover the defi­cit.

Four full-time and three part-time police officers are expec­ted to be cut from the Police Depart­ment, while the Fire Depart­ment could trim about a third of its force.

“This has been det­ri­mental to the mor­ale and no one is happy about this,” said Brent A. Car­penter, of the Rut­land’s police union. “We’re going to have huge safety con­cerns. It’s just dis­ap­point­ing.”

Car­penter said that the cuts to the depart­ment would include the loss of the K-9 and acci­dent recon­struc­tion units, as well as night-shift staff­ing.

He said the staff­ing cuts will be reflec­ted in the ser­vices to the pub­lic, which would be “a secur­ity issue at this point.”

“[Officers are] going to be solo and rely­ing on out­side agen­cies,” Car­penter said. “There will be a delay in ser­vice where if you have mul­tiple calls com­ing in at once, we have to take the pri­or­ity calls.

“Obvi­ously the people have spoken. We get it – nobody likes their taxes raised.”

Car­penter said cuts to staff could also bring about issues with recruit­ment.

 

Templeton Equalized Valuations as of January 2026

LA19 (PROPOSED)

CLASS	Assessed Value	Assessment Ratio	Estimated Full Value
RESIDENTIAL	1,107,203,185	0.95	1,165,477,000
OPEN SPACE	0		0
COMMERCIAL	52,525,350	0.95	55,240,700
INDUSTRIAL	24,719,600	0.95	26,020,600
PERSONAL PROPERTY	15,131,166	1.00	15,131,200
TOTAL REAL/PERSONAL PROPERTY	1,199,579,301	0.95	1,261,869,500
ESTIMATED GROWTH		1.17%	14,763,900
PROPOSED EQUALIZED VALUATION			1,276,633,400

 Alysa Hayden, library advisory specialist at the MBLC, began the session by stating that public libraries have an average 300% return on investment to their communities.

https://www.phillipston-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/984 

 The Boston teachers’ contract in April 2025 delivered pay raises for staff, a $181 million increase in school spending, and the end of more than a year of contentious negotiations.

The deal, agreed to shortly before a planned union protest of Mayor Michelle Wu’s State of the City address, averted what could have been a high-profile battle during an election year.

What the deal didn’t do: Guarantee Boston had the money to pay for it.

By the January after Wu’s reelection, city officials proposed cutting up to 400 jobs in the coming year’s school budget.

It’s a scenario that has played out across the state. Teachers unions have flexed their muscles in recent years, picketing and even striking to secure contracts with better pay and working conditions. Local politicians, seeking to avoid school disruptions and union pressure in elections, agree to substantial raises and other benefits.

But a tradeoff has emerged: Many of the same districts, including Boston, Newton, and Marblehead, announced budget cuts and layoffs within a few years of the new deals.

Similar episodes have played out across the country, according to Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab.

“That’s the playbook these days,” Roza said. “Unions are asking for things they know the district can’t afford, and saying, ‘I don’t care, go get the money.’”

Often, school districts have managed to find the money. Brookline, for example, won overwhelming approval from town voters for a record tax override, to help pay for a 2022 teacher contract agreed to after a one-day strike. Of the $23 million brought in by the voter-approved tax hikes, about $18 million will go to the schools.

But that amount is still not enough to stave off all cuts, with some school positions set to be eliminated.

 

Senate to Start FY27 State Budget Debate Next Week   Senators Will Soon Review All Municipal and School Amendments   Please Call Your Senators and Ask for Their Support for Key Amendments   May 13, 2026   Dear Jeffrey,   Next week, the Senate is scheduled to launch a week-long debate on the fiscal 2027 Senate Budget (S. 4). More than 1100 amendments have been filed for consideration including several proposals affecting cities, towns, and school districts.   It is critically important that as soon as possible, you contact your Senators and ask them to co-sponsor and support the amendments below, while opposing amendments that would subvert municipal authority.   The Senate Ways and Means budget is a strong proposal that builds on the education investments included in the House budget with a proposal to boost Unrestricted General Government Aid. When you speak with your Senators, be sure to thank them for the many strong investments included in the Senate Ways and Means budget including: $53 million for UGGA, Chapter 70 minimum aid to $160 per student, full funding the state’s obligation for Special Education Circuit Breaker and Charter School Mitigation Payments, increases in regional school transportation, funding for universal school meals, and more. Additionally, be sure to thank them for not including provisions which would have jeopardized critical local revenue collections.   Please review the below information that includes points to raise with your Senators. Please call them as soon as possible to ask for their action on these amendments and highlight how these proposals would impact your community.   Ask your Senators to support and co-sponsor:   Rural School Aid (Amendments #648 & 731, & 618) – Please ask your Senators to support Amendments, which would target $9 million, $24 million, and $44 million, respectively, for the Rural School Aid program that offers critical support to rural school districts (7061-9813).   Regional School Transportation (Amendments #596, 605, & 619) – These amendments would increase funding for regional school transportation reimbursements by approximately $6.3 million, $12.7 million, and $14.9 million, respectively (7035-0006).

 What is a Levy?

The property tax levy is the revenue a community can raise through real and personal property taxes.

What is a Levy Ceiling? What is a Levy Limit?

What is a Levy Ceiling?

What is a Levy Limit?

Proposition 2 1/2 places constraints on the amount of the levy raised by a city or town and on how much the levy can

be increased from year to year.

A levy limit is a restriction on the amount of property taxes a community can levy. Proposition 2 1/2 established two

types of levy limits:

First, a community cannot levy more than 2.5 percent of the total full and fair cash value of all taxable real and personal property in the community. In this primer we will refer to the full and fair cash value limit as the levy ceiling.

Second, a community’s levy is also constrained in that it can only increase by a certain amount from year to year.

We will refer to the maximum amount a community can levy in a given year as the levy limit. The levy limit will

always be below, or at most, equal to the levy ceiling. The levy limit may not exceed the levy ceiling.

How is a Levy Limit Calculated?

A levy limit for each community is calculated annually by the Department of Revenue. It is important to note that a

community’s levy limit is based on the previous year’s levy limit and not on the previous year’s actual levy.

 State Senator Peter J. Durant

11h ·

This morning I met on the common in West Brookfield with constituents who are passionate about saving the West Brookfield Elementary School. The school is in danger of closing, sending pupils to Warren, the other town in the Quaboag Regional School District.

The town is facing two override votes to try to preserve town services and save the school. They are just one of many communities in this dire situation.

What many folks didn't know was that this week, in Boston, House Republicans stood up and forced a roll call vote in an effort to fully fund Rural School Aid which could have helped communities like West Brookfield.

That amendment would have raised the funding to $60 million which is what the state’s own commission said it should be. But Democrats killed it.

Democrats didn’t debate it. They didn’t even offer an alternative.

They killed it.

Every single Democrat in the House stood up and voted against the thing these rural communities need most and then they went home.

I and my Republican colleagues in the Senate have plans to try to right this wrong when we begin work on our budget next week.

We plan to file and support amendments to fund Rural School Aid and increase Local Aid by cutting programs like free calls for inmates. We will propose increasing funding for Regional School Transportation and tapping the interest in the state’s so-called rainy day fund - because across the state it’s pouring on our small communities and they are drowning.

This morning, these hearty folks looked at the details of the House vote in surprise and asked over and over, what can we do to get these Democrats on our side?

 If you do one thing, search/google 603 CMR 41.00 and then read 41.05 and learn about regional school budgeting. It provides information to aid in what you vote for and how you vote.

41.05: Regional School District Budgets

(1) Initial Adoption by the School Committee.

(a) The regional school committee shall propose a budget containing all proposed operating expenditures, transportation expenditures, capital expenditures, and debt service payments to be paid from general revenues of the regional school district. The budget shall be classified into such line-items as the regional school committee shall determine, provided that such line-items shall be consistent with but need not be to the same level of detail as the chart of accounts required for the end of year reporting of expenditures pursuant to 603 CMR 10.03(3).

Initial Action by the Local Appropriating Authorities.

(a) The budget as adopted by the regional school committee and the member's assessment as certified by the treasurer of the regional school district shall be placed before each member's local appropriating authority for its consideration. Notwithstanding provisions in the regional agreement to the contrary, approval of the budget shall require an affirmative vote of the local appropriating authorities of two-thirds of the members. A vote by the local appropriating authority to appropriate the member's assessment shall constitute approval of the regional school district's budget.

If a local appropriating authority votes to appropriate a lower amount than the assessment as certified by the treasurer of the regional school district, such vote shall not constitute approval of the budget as submitted by the regional school committee. The regional school committee may consider such votes when it reconsiders the budget pursuant to 603 CMR 41.05(3).

Reconsideration of Rejected Budgets.

(a) If the budget is not approved in accordance with 603 CMR 41.05(2), the regional school committee shall have 30 days from the date of disapproval to reconsider, amend, and adopt a revised budget. With the approval of the Commissioner, this 30-day period may be extended an additional 15 days. Where the local appropriating authority is town meeting and the annual town meeting is dissolved prior to voting on the budget, the budget shall be deemed disapproved by that member as of the date of such dissolution.

(b) The revised budget adopted by the regional school committee and the assessments corresponding to such budget may be less than, equal to, or greater than the amounts in the previously adopted budget.

In a regional school district comprised of two members, if the revised budget is not approved by the local appropriating authorities of both members, the regional school committee shall again reconsider, amend, and adopt a revised budget and shall convene a district-wide meeting in accordance with M.G.L. c. 71, § 16B, at which the revised budget shall be placed before all voters eligible to vote at said meeting. If a majority of voters at this district-wide meeting votes to approve the revised budget, such vote shall constitute approval. If a majority of voters at this district-wide meeting votes to approve a greater or lesser amount for the budget, such amount shall be placed before the regional school committee. If the regional school committee by a two-thirds vote of the full committee ratifies such amount, it shall constitute approval. If the regional school committee rejects such amount, it shall again reconsider, amend, and adopt a revised budget and shall reconvene a district-wide meeting pursuant to the provisions of this section 603 CMR 41.05(3)(f).

Establishment of Budgets by the Commissioner.

(a) If the annual budget for a regional school district has not been approved by July 1, the superintendent of schools shall notify the Commissioner, and the Commissioner shall establish an interim monthly budget for the regional school district. The interim monthly budget shall be one-twelfth of the regional school district's budget for the prior fiscal year or such higher amount as the Commissioner may determine. The interim monthly budget shall remain in effect until a budget is approved pursuant to 603 CMR 41.05(3) or December 1, whichever comes earlier.

 

 

 https://www.templetonma.gov/1625/Proposition-25-Override-Information

 Templeton Override votes this century, beginning 2000.

March 23, 2000, special Town election.

Shall the Town of Templeton be allowed to assess an additional $565,164.00 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of funding the Narragansett Regional School District operating budget for the Fiscal Year beginning July 1st, 2000?

Passed YES 10122 votes / NO 709 votes

June 11, 2007, special Town election.

. Shall the Town of Templeton be allowed to assess an additional $735,700.00 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of funding the operating budget of the Narragansett Regional School District as assessed by the Narragansett Regional School District for the fiscal year beginning July first, two thousand seven?

PASSED - YES 541 NO 515

October 15, 2013, special Town election.

“Shall the Town of Templeton be allowed to assess an additional $620,000.00 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of funding the general operations of the regional schools and municipal government for the fiscal year beginning July first, two thousand and thirteen?

PASSED YES 961 NO 746

October 2013 special town meeting.

To appropriate monies from the above override vote.

To see if the town will vote to assess an additional $620,000 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of funding the regional schools and municipal government for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2013. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen. On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to that Five Hundred Fifty Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty Nine Dollars ($550,459.00) be raised and appropriated from the 2014 Tax levy and other general revenues of the town (as per the passage of the October 15 ballot question for an override of the limitations of the Proposition Two and One half, so called , ch.54, sc. 29) to be added to the appropriation voted pursuant to Article 27 of the Annual Town Meeting to pay the Town of Templeton’s share of the Narragansett Regional School District budget for Fiscal Year 2014, thus increasing the total FY14 appropriation from $4,430,615.00 to a new total of $4,981,074.00 dollars and that Sixty Nine Thousand, Five Hundred Forty One Dollars, ($69,541.00) be raised and appropriated from the 2014 Tax Levy and other general revenues of the town (as per passage of the October 15 ballot question for an override of the limitations of Proposition Two and One half, so called, ch.54, sc. 29) to be added to the appropriation voted pursuant to Article 9 of the Annual Town Meeting for town charges,

Passed.

May 2018, annual Town elections.

Town general fund override $420,246.00

PASSED yes 722 NO 434

May 2018 annual Town meeting

I move to raise and appropriate the sum of Four Hundred Seventy Thousand Two Hundred Forty Six Dollars and No Cents, ($470,246.00), , for supplemental appropriations to the FY 2019 Operating Budget for the following departments: Fire/EMS $290,740 Police $23,000 Insurance & Benefits $133,890 Highway $15,000 Snow & Ice $7,616.

PASSED.