ARTICLE 2: To see if the Town will vote to authorize a PILOT payment based on the annual kilowatt sales of the Light Department multiplied by a per kilowatt value. from the Municipal Light Plant Funds, to the town treasury, as authorized by its Light Board in accordance with Chapter 164 of the General Laws of the Commonwealth, or act in relation thereto. 

(Requested by the Municipal Light Department) 

SELECTMEN RECOMMEND: YES 

CAPITAL PLAN. COMM. RECOMMEND: N/A

 ADVISORY BD. RECOMMEND: YES 

TAX RATE IMPACT: N/A 

Brief Explanation: The PILOT agreement is tied to the Pilot payment in the annual kilowatt sales of the light department multiplied by a per kilowatt value. This was put in place for FY13 to ease the calculation and establish a standard process for future years. In FY13 it is estimated we will receive $66,345. ARTICLE 2 VOTED: On motion of Richard Sicard it was moved that articles 1 through 8 be approved by consent. Unanimous “YES”

 How things work:

You live in Templeton and receive a light bill from Templeton light dept., which is a town department. On that light bill, there is a service charge of $4.23 on residential bills, commercial and town buildings have a service charge of $8.91 on each bill. Town buildings with town water also pay a service charge each quarter of $101.23, so the general fund of the town is supporting the town water enterprise fund dept.

All invoices, bills, benefits, payroll w-2, etc., for the enterprise funds are all processed at town hall under general fund expense and by state law, the selectmen (select board) have to approve and sign off on the bills/invoice/payroll before the town treasurer can pay, as in write checks, do electronic transfers.

When town buildings use town electricity or town buildings use town water, they are getting billed for it, by enterprise funds, but when town processes bills, payroll, etc., for enterprise funds, the enterprise funds are not currently billed for those services.

 from The Gardner News:

Templeton highest paid employees.

First Name	Last Name	Department	Gross Wages
John	Driscoll	Light	$167,248.58
Derek	Hall	Police	$131,099.00
Thomas	Berry	Light	$129,692.43
Nicholas	Houston	Light	$120,814.87
Joseph	Parker	Light	$119,602.84
Tyler	Gearin	Light	$115,290.90
Michael	Bennett	Police	$114,151.69
Shane	Egan	Light	$114,134.78
Nicholas	Malnati	Police	$107,796.60
Eric	Smith	Police	$107,571.97
Kyle	Daniels	Fire	$107,067.45
John	White	Light	$106,806.24
Steven	Flis	Police	$104,427.40
Natan	Hagopian	Fire	$94,065.72
Scott	Schwinger	Water	$93,926.44
Robert	Szocik	DPW	$92,721.23
Jennifer	Belliveau	Light	$90,189.38
Jeffrey	Aldrich	Sewer	$89,513.85
Caleb	Matson	Police	$88,186.82
Andrew	Francis	Fire	$86,621.36

These are the top 20 earners in the town of Templeton in 2025.

 

FYI - the impact to the average single family home (SFH) relative to the FY’2026 tax rate if the following Overrides/amounts added to the tax levy had occurred, rounded up to the next penny. Some information to go with it, keep in the mind for FY’2026 that $1 on the tax rate raised $1,199,579 and the average SFH was valued at $378,285, and the tax rate was at $11.87 per thousand dollars of assessed value, making the average tax bill of a SFH around $4,490.24.

Below is an example of a 3 tiered approach to an override question.

Override Amount	Increase in Tax Rate ($/1000)	Increase in Tax Amount on the Average SFH	Result: Total Tax Amount on the Average SFH
$ 1,000,000	$ 0.83	$ 313.98	$ 4,804.22
$ 2,000,000	$ 1.67	$ 631.74	$ 5,121.98
$ 3,000,000	$ 2.50	$ 945.72	$ 5,435.96

The below link is to article on body camera and associated equipment grants.

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.us18.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3Dd974c04ac20a7b83c0bdb194e%26id%3Dfdb1ce8b70%26e%3D97b45a867e&data=05%7C02%7C%7C266e23c44b784e9188ae08de810288c6%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639090045098906859%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cuc6fUH0JQQqSzZcVNoVpXuhALpARm%2FmToMNwd7JuHA%3D&reserved=0

 

 What VADAR offers.

Provide better service to your constituents who can track, manage, and pay for utility services online

02

Access and analyze critical water and sewer usage and consumption data

03

Automatically produce integrated utility bills with combined receivable types (Water/ Sewer/ Stormwater/ Trash)

04

Add accounts, record meter readings, generate work order invoices, even track meter changes and “swap outs”

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Reduce manual entry and the errors that come with it

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And more

 

ATM - May 2025

Look at town meeting warrant, light commissioners elected salary.

Light $2550.00 each. Tempelton water commissioners elected salary $2550.00.

Sewer commissioners $3000.00 each

select board members $2550.00 each

Light commissioner and water commissioners are the same three people. Now, in MA, elected persons getting paid $5000.00 or more, are eligible to take part in town retirement system, which increases the cost of that (WCRR) Again, that is a Town cost and in the case of enterprise fund depts., which light & water are, those costs are passed on to rate payers. But the total WCRR is a line item in the town GF budget, the higher the cost, the more GF money goes there and is not available for other things.

This is simple fact information.

It is up to town meeting to vote those salaries/stipends, etc.

 So people, feelings on being asked for a 3-million-dollar override - increase in real estate taxes?

Using rounded numbers, every $1 increase in the tax rate adds roughly $1.1m in revenue. Adding $3 to the tax rate would add an additional $3.3m to the overall annual budget.

As an example of what this means, if a property was valued at $400k, the $3 increase would result in a $1,200 increase in that property's annual tax bill ($300 per quarterly billing).

Remember also that for the first year of an override , the additional money has to go to the stated purpose, then in following years, those extra dollars just get added to the pile on the table and can go towards anything. Roads in Templeton are much the same in other towns, terrible and even when paved, the important parts are left undone, drainage, water main, sidewalks, etc.

Planned timeline for Saturday meeting of Templeton Select Board on budget presentation.

8:00 AM: Development Services, Laurie Witta

8:30 AM: Public Works/Snow & Ice, Bob Szocik

9:15 AM: Fire/EMS/Ambulance, Chief Dave Dickie

10:00 AM: Emergency Management, Rich Curtis

10:30 AM: Sewer Department, Jeff Aldrich

11:00 AM: Parks & Recreation, Ken McClure

11:30 AM: Town Clerk, Carol Harris

Noon: Lunch Break

12:45 PM: Senior Services, Jackie Prime

1:15 PM: Library, Jackie Prime

1:45 PM: Veterans Department, Michelle Durkee

2:00 PM: Cable Department, Steve Castle

2:30 PM: Assessing, Justice Graves

3:00 PM: Treasurer/Collector/Debt, Cheryl Richardson

3:30 PM: Accounting, Amber Dupell

4:00 PM: Advisory Committee, Jackie Macomber

4:10 PM: Select Board/IT/Insurance, James Ryan

4:40 PM: General Discussion

5:00 PM: Planned Adjournmen

 How much revenue has Montachusett TV brought to Templeton?

An enterprise fund is supposed to function or pay for itself off of generated revenue. So, if revenue is around 100 thousand dollars per year, that should be the budget you live with!

 Time for Templeton to look at having a Town Charter, which is basically a legal document that outlines how the town will be run, who is elected and who is appointed and by whom, town charter generally creates a town manager position who is overseen by selectmen. Town charter results in a more centralized form of governance / efficient.

Also, senior tax work off amount should be set at the maximum amount allowed by statute, according to a policy adopted by the selectmen, again, following statute, in collaboration with council on aging. Seniors deserve that.