A while back, I donated a hard cover version of Town Meeting Times to the Templeton library, it is the lates copy of Town Meeting Times, which is the official guide book for Templeton Town Meetings. You can go there and check this out without having to to buy a copy. Moderators Association will not let the town post an electronic copy on Town website.

Page 217 - section 9.1 in Town Meeting Times, at bottom of page, an interesting paragraph of information.

Concerning the practice of anyone wishing to speak before the meeting, identify themselves, no matter how well they may be known in town. There is one sentence that is interesting: "Although this is accepted practice, there is no legal authority which expressly accords to the moderator the power to compel speakers to identify themselves if they do not wish to do so."

Town Meeting Times is a product of MA Moderators Association.

One member of the committee that produced this latest edition of the book, Templeton Town Counsel Tom Harrington.

 Join us to show your support of the Municipal Empowerment Act (MEA) next Tuesday October 28th!

 

Why the MEA is Important

 

The MEA is an important opportunity for the Commonwealth to further its support of all 351 cities and towns. This legislation promotes efficiencies in local government, reduces regulatory burdens, and provides tools for communities to solve age-old problems through additional revenue options and operational flexibilities.

 

The MEA:

• Reforms outdated procurement rules and thresholds including:
• Raising the 30B threshold for ALL municipal purchases to $100,000
• Exempting snow hauling from 30B requirements to match snow removal
• Eliminating the COMMBUYS publishing requirement
• Streamlining cooperative purchasing agreements for goods AND services
• Codifies existing COVID-era allowances for remote public meetings, currently set to expire on June 30, 2027
• Updates enforcement mechanisms and removal procedures for double poles
• Provides new or expanded local option revenues including:
• Option to increase the meals tax
• Option to increase the lodging tax
• Option to establish a new motor vehicle excise tax
• Improves efficiency of local operations through longer borrowing terms for school projects, tools for critical workforce shortages, and much more!

 Time has come for a review and update to Templeton Senior tax work off program. It is time for a presentation to Town Meeting and for Select Board to take the lead and increase to the maximum dollar amount allowed under state law to try and help seniors who can and are willing to do some things for the town in exchange for small abatement of property taxes. There is more than enough money in the fund that covers the cost of this program, it is called the Town Overlay fund and is controlled by Board of Assessors. Currently there is a very large amount of money in that fund, more than enough to handle the increase in senior work off.

Funding the Programs: Work-off program expenses must be budgeted in the allowance for abatements and exemptions, i.e. overlay account, rather than through departmental appropriations. The expenses can include the municipality’s share of federal Medicare taxes. Therefore, as part of the budget development process, the amounts needed to operate the programs should be considered. The assessors should factor these amounts into the amount of overlay being raised each year.

 https://go.boarddocs.com/ma/nrsd/Board.nsf/files/DLMN9X5EE6FA/$file/MSBA%20Narragansett%20MS%20Reginal%20HS%20Roof%20Replacement%20SD%20Estimate%2008-20-2025%20%20as%20issue%20(1).pdf

 Templeton town meeting votes a single dollar amount for each department, it is up to department heads to spend those dollars wisely. If town meeting wants more control, they would have to vote in a line item budget, which would require amending previous town meeting votes, changing a few policies and in the end, could cost money if there were an increase in special town meetings to transfer money around. Always the details that drive the train.

 Survey question; town bylaw / policy - no charge for public records. Yes or no?

Paper, ink, computers, printers, copiers, people producing or getting the information are already all paid for, no reason to pay twice.

What is the cost for copies of public records; what about electronic records?

Absent a specifically identified statute or regulation, an RAO may charge no more than $0.05 per page for single and double-sided black and white paper copies or computer printouts. There is no longer a separate charge for police or fire reports, or for computer printouts.

The Public Records Law and its Regulations apply to all Massachusetts government records, regardless of form, and regardless of the location of the

records.

Provision of public records in electronic form is preferred where available. An RAO is not permitted to assess a copying fee for electronic records. The $0.05 fee applies only to paper copies of records.

Public records that are of great interest to a large number of people must be readily available within the office of the RAO and should be provided at a minimum cost, if any. Examples include minutes of board meetings, town meeting documents, warrants, street lists and municipal financial documents.

Many of these records are required to be placed on the RAO’s website.

An RAO may charge and recover a fee for the time spent searching, redacting, photocopying and refiling a record.

Municipalities with a population of 20,000 and under are permitted to charge

for the first two hours of time spent searching for, compiling, segregating, redacting and reproducing a requested record.

The hourly rate may not be greater than the prorated hourly wage of the lowest paid employee who is capable of performing the task. Generally, an RAO is not permitted to charge an hourly rate in excess of $25.00 per hour to search for records. Municipal RAOs may petition the Supervisor for permission to charge a fee in excess of $25.00.

 The overlay is raised by the assessors in the annual tax levy as a reserve for abatements and exemptions.  MGL c. 59, secs. 23, 25 and  70A. Currently, there is a separate overlay reserve account for each fiscal year to cover property tax abatements and exemptions granted by the assessors or ordered by the Appellate Tax Board for just that fiscal year.

The Municipal Modernization Act creates a single overlay reserve to cover the costs of potential abatements or exemptions granted by the assessors or ordered by the Appellate Tax Board for any fiscal year. With a single overlay reserve, municipalities may now avoid deficits which formerly occurred when amounts abated or exempted exceeded the balance in the overlay account for that particular year. The single overlay takes effect on November 7, 2016. No local action is needed. As of that date, all balances in all overlay accounts will be merged into a single overlay account, the balance for which may be charged for abatements or exemptions granted for any fiscal year. Local assessors, however, will still need to review, as part of each year’s budget and tax rate process, whether an additional amount needs to be raised that year for addition to the single overlay account.

DOR Code	Municipality	Fiscal Year	Overlay Appropriation	Total Levy	Overlay as a % of Total Levy
294	Templeton	2021	313,292	12,276,184	2.55%
294	Templeton	2022	234,466	12,740,880	1.84%
294	Templeton	2023	225,774	12,935,986	1.75%
294	Templeton	2024	143,641	13,526,437	1.06%
294	Templeton	2025	140,749	14,086,053	1.00%