GEORGETOWN — Articles seeking both one-year and permanent tax hikes will face voters at the annual Town Meeting on Monday.
According to Town Moderator Beverly Enos, the doors at the middle/high school auditorium will open at 6:15 p.m. for people to begin signing in and finding seats. Baby-sitting will be provided by Girl Scouts until 9.
"The meeting will begin at 7 sharp, so try to come early," said Enos.
This year's warrant contains 30 articles; there is also a citizen's petition filed by Phil Cannon, requesting that the wetlands bylaws be repealed.
Among the tax hike requests is a total of $148,000 in one-time debt exclusions for the school department to fund special education transportation vans, a copy center and an upgraded security system. Another one-time debt exclusion of $125,000 is for repairs to the public safety building roof; $50,000 is requested in a one-time override for the highway department roof.
The Fire Department is requesting a permanent Proposition 21/2 override of $91,000 to pay a fire chief and staff under the new strong chief model of running the department approved by the Legislature last week.
If all the one-year tax hikes pass, an average household will pay an estimated $145 just for one year. The Fire Department override, if passed, would add another $30 annually to each household.
Other items to be voted on include several Community Preservation funding requests, and an article requesting $115,000 from the stabilization fund has been added to pay for updated software for the Police Department.
"The software is for managing the dispatch and booking at the Police Department," said selectmen Chairman Matt Vincent. "The current software relies on a 1997 database program that is no longer supported by Microsoft, and they have been experiencing stability issues that are raising the concern that they may experience a catastrophic failure and data loss."
To take money from the stabilization fund, which currently has about $1.3 million, a two-thirds majority vote is required at Town Meeting.
