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Date: 4/28/2016
HAMPDEN – Residents approved the $12.6 million fiscal year 2017 (FY17) budget during the April 25 Annual Town Meeting, despite a low turnout in which clusters of empty seats could be seen throughout the Thornton W. Burgess Middle School auditorium.
According to the warrant, the general government portion of the FY17 budget consists of $1.2 million; the cost of general town services, including the library, senior center, as well as the Parks and Recreation, is $604,564. The Highway Department budget is $628,977, the Police Department budget is $1.3 million and the Fire Department’s FY17 budget costs are $94,500. The total protection budget is $1.5 million.
Funding from the town for the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District consists of $11.3 million and local government debt costs – which includes school debt, and the Minnechaug High School bonding – is $1.2 million.
Advisory Committee Co-Chair Carol Fitzgerald said the FY17 budget is level service.
Article 7 on the warrant included the funding of Community Preservation Act (CPA) projects for $70,960. The article passed by a majority vote.
Advisory Committee Co-Chair Douglas Boyd said the total amount of funds available in the CPA account is $230,248.
A list of some of the CPA projects includes a restoration and cleaning of an historic World War I monument on the town green for $9,250, improvements to the Memorial Park playscape for $9,000, and the restoration of 20 pieces of antique oak furniture at the Hampden Free Public Library for $2,560, he added.
Article 17 called for an addition to the town’s solar zoning bylaw, which also passed by a majority vote.
The new bylaw reads, “a solar energy system shall be considered abandoned if the solar energy system has not been removed from the property within 150 days of its deemed decommission. The town may enter the property and physically remove and dispose of an abandoned solar energy system and perform landscape remediation to stabilize and re-vegetate the site as necessary to minimize erosion. As a condition of approval, the applicant and landowner shall agree to such entry.”
It also notes that the owner of a solar energy system must be required to provide a form of surety to cover the cost of removal and disposal in the event the town must remove the solar energy system. The project’s proponent would also be required to submit an estimate of the costs associated with removal, disposal, and landscape remediation, which would need to be prepared by a qualified engineer.
“The Planning Board shall make the final determination of a reasonable amount and form of the surety, which may be reviewed and adjusted every three years or take any other action relative thereto,” it reads.
One resident sought to amend the bylaw addition, limiting it to solar power systems generating 50 kilowatts or more annually.
Boyd addressed the amendment, stating, the bylaw is only “applicable to solar power systems 3,000 square feet” or more and intended for large solar power instillations.
The resident subsequently withdrew the addition to the article.
Article 18 called for the purchase of a roughly 39-acre parcel of land on North Road known as Mount Vision for $49,850, which is deemed conservation land. The article passed by a majority vote. The land would overseen and maintained by the Minnechaug Land Trust.
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