From the Phillipston Annual Town Meeting Warrant:


ARTICLE 11: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds, or otherwise provide the sum of $1,657,099 to pay its share of the Narragansett Regional School District budget for FY20, or act in relation thereto. Requires a majority vote to approve. Narragansett Regional School District Summary. This is the basic portion of the annual appropriation for the operating budget for the Narragansett Regional School District.

ARTICLE 12: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds, or otherwise provide the sum of $93,053 to pay its share of the Narragansett Regional School District budget for FY20, provided, however, that the vote taken hereunder shall be expressly contingent upon approval by the voters at an election of a Proposition 2 ½ override question pursuant to Chapter 59, Section 21C(g) of the General Laws, or act in relation thereto. Requires a majority vote to approve. Narragansett Regional School District Summary. This is the override portion of the annual appropriation for the operating budget for the Narragansett Regional School District.

from the Templeton voter's guide for Annual Town Meeting of May 15, 2019:

Anticipated Motion:

To see if the Town will vote I move to raise and appropriate the sum of Seven Million Four Hundred Seventy Nine Thousand Four Hundred Six Dollars and No Cents ($7,479,406.00), or some lesser amount, to fund the Town’s assessed share of the costs of the Narragansett Regional School District for FY’20, contingent upon the passage of a ballot question pursuant to G.L. c. 59, §21C(g) (Proposition 2 ½);

Or take any other action related thereto.

The motion means you are voting on an additional $988,336.00 in money so the Town (taxpayers) can pay the "bill" from NRSD. This simply increases the Tax levy limit, which in turn, allows for increase in property taxes in order to raise the additional funds to pay said bill. If you vote yes on article six, you are voting for one step of a two step process to allow an increase in your taxes. The next step is to vote for a question on the ballot for the annual Town election on May 20, 2019.
Phillipston voters already have approved the first step vi Town Meeting, their election is also on May 20.


Summary: We are required to put before you the appropriation needed to fully fund the assessment upon us certified by the Narragansett Regional School District. However, we do not have sufficient funds available without having to ask for additional taxing authority through the passage of a ballot question allowing us to over-ride the current taxing limits we operate under. If that override fails, we will have to come back to you at a Special Town Meeting to seek an appropriation for any revised request from the NRSD and any cuts we have to make to the Town budget to cover such a request.

The summary is just that; it is NOT what you are voting on, you vote on the MOTION!


Advisory Committee Comments & Recommendation:

This article is a contingent article, meaning it not only has to pass at Town Meeting, but an override ballot question must also pass at the annual Town election on May 20, 2019.

Advisory Committee recommends favorable action on this article. (5 yes – 1 no)

Recently received email from a Templeton Town team leader via a Town email address:

On one hand, an open forum is a good way to hear what people running for office have to say, one problem with this email is it does not include all who are running for office - while two candidates for selectmen are included, the third candidate is missing.
On the other hand, is it appropriate to use tax dollars to do this?

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Greetings,

Congratulations on your inclusion on Templeton’s Town Election ballot as a candidate for Town office. 

The Town of Templeton appreciates your willingness to serve our community and represent the residents of Templeton.

Templeton Community TV (TCTV), the Senior Citizens Community Center, and the Community Services Office will be hosting an   Election Forum 2019 on Saturday, May 11, from 4-6 pm at the Senior Center, Senior Drive, in Baldwinville.

We encourage your participation in this event to discuss your candidacy and to address any ballot issues and other important issues facing our Town and our people.

Each candidate will be allowed 5-10 minutes to address voters who are present. This is a wonderful opportunity to let the people of Templeton know about the issues and initiatives that motivate you, and the direction you feel our Town should take. You also should be prepared to answer questions from the audience and the event moderator.

As you know, participation in our civic affairs are critical today. Building our community stronger through participation starts with leaders like you. 

Election Forum 2019 will be recorded by TCTV for broadcast on Cable Channel 8 and YouTube, thereby reaching much wider audiences in Templeton. 

Let your voice be heard, so that you may inspire others.

Please respond by Tuesday, May 7, 2019 and let us know if you are available to participate in this important event, for the future of Templeton.

If you watched or plan on watching the Templeton Advisory Committee meeting of May 2, 2019, please be aware of a math error; discussion on a by-law change proposal, regarding zoning changes on Baldwinville Road, a 6 month time frame was brought up; the problem is we all failed third grade math! Meeting date referenced happened on December 11, 2018 and the 2019 annual town meeting is on May 15, 2019, that is 5 months rather than 6 months, so at least part of the MGL was met. Thought you should hear of this error from a member of Advisory Committee first. Best to be in front of mistakes rather than hope no one notices! I apologize for the error and any possible confusion, etc. The point concerning the 6 month time period came from a resident, whom I very much appreciate taking time to attend the meeting; but the mis count was not realized until today.

As an FYI, one of the parcels of land affected by the zoning change is owned by a member of the Templeton planning board.

A message from a member of Council on Aging:

Message:

I watched the video of the Advisory Committee meeting for 4/25/2019. I am on the Board of Directors of the COA, but am speaking as a citizen of Templeton who visits the COA at least 2 - 3 times a week. Just to clarify two statements that were made by Mr. Spring. The line item for "carpeting" in the
COA budget is for the entry way which now has a PLYWOOD floor. Concerning the bathrooms - I have never seen the ladies' room in any condition except IMMACULATE, either when the custodian was on medical leave or when he was
working. I cannot attest to the condition of the men's room obviously.
Occasionally, if there is an "accident" in one of the bathrooms, the staff at the COA immediately dons the rubber gloves, grabs the bucket, soap and disinfectant and cleans up the area.

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify these two matters. When speculative statements are made publicly, it always affects the reputation of a department.

I appreciate the work and effort of all the boards and committees in the Town of Templeton. Thank you all for serving our town.

The above message came to me via my email address on Town website. I thank the individual for not only watching the meetings, but taking time to relay their thoughts and information to the Advisory Committee.

In case you missed it, this years budget (FY 2019) for Templeton emergency management was $1,000.00. After a proposal to increase that amount to $1,750.00 for (FY2020) which begins July 1, 2019, it was explained that over the last 10 years, over $60,000.00 in grants have come to Templeton via the Emergency Management department. So, when the appropriated amount for EM has been $1,000.00 and about $6,000.00 per year for ten years has been brought in, that is a pretty good return on investment or money spent. Those grants came with no added costs to local taxes (taxpayer). I believe that shows there is little concern for adding $750.00 to  an entity that regularly demonstrates value to the Town (residents) Emergency Management covers something called CERT; = community emergency response team, which does some mundane things like traffic crossing, as in the craft fair, mac n cheese party, motor palooza, etc, which brings attention to Templeton, probably brings exposure to Historical society, may bring in extra business to the country store along with aiding some fundraising efforts. 

That is an organization that looks for volunteers too! 

Hope this helps explain where and how some of your dollars go. 

Why does Templeton keep missing the boat?

Updated Jul 25, 2018 at 10:30 PM

 

HUBBARDSTON — Town officials have ap­­proved the Rutland Reg­ional Emergency Com­munication Center’s plan to add the town of Warren to the center, which will save Hubbard­ston thousands of dollars.

Currently, the Com­munication Center serves Barre, Oakham, Rutland and Hubbardston.

However, it will expand to include Warren starting in January, which will save Hubbardston roughly $18,000 a year. Currently, the town spends $134,241 on dispatch, but after the savings begin the town will spend $116,502.

“There are no known drawbacks to adding Warren,” Director of Communications Michael Moriarty said. “There won’t be any change in service to any of the towns, and Hubbardston will have the same service.”

In order to address the additional calls, the Communication Center is hiring additional dispatchers in order to assure no change in service with the addition of Warren.

“We are happy to be realizing long-term savings due to the addition of Warren into RECC,” Board of Selectmen Chairman Dan Galante said. “We feel as though we vetted it thoroughly and asked all of the necessary questions to make sure the citizens of Hubbardston are unaffected by this merger.”

Hubbardston was the last town to approve Warren into the center.

With Warren added, the current capacity of the facility will be maxed out, but the center is still looking at options to allow future expansions that could save the towns even more money.

“We are looking at new locations to continue to grow,” Moriarty said. “The building next door to us actually, if we move into that we will be able to hold even more towns.”

With each town that is added to the center, there will be more overall savings for the towns already participating.

The Communications Center has also found additional savings in switching to Swift 911, swapping out Code Red, for recorded mass emergency calls. Swift 911 offers the same townwide calling services that CodeRed does, for about $7,000 less to the cost of each town using the center.

With Swift 911, the town is able to make wide-ranging calls for a number of scenarios, notably emergencies like floods or serious crime, but Swift 911 will also allow people to sign up for specific call lists, so they can be notified about non-emergencies like town meetings as well.

from the Templeton Town website - Selectmen operating procedures policy:

h, Accept the office of selectmen as a means of unselfish service, not benefit personally or politically from the office or outside activities.

So, by being elected to the board of selectmen, and then ask for pay, is that benefiting from being a selectmen? Seems like if you are a selectmen and are asking for pay, you are trying to benefit from the office and thus going against the policy you voted for? Very interesting.

As a candidate for Templeton Board of Selectmen; 
NO stipends / pay for selectmen