Williamstown Fire District Sets Special Meeting for July 1
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| Prudential Committee members, from left, Lindsay Neathawk, David Moresi, John Notsley and Craig Pedercini participate in Friday afternoon's meeting. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee Friday called a special fire district meeting for Tuesday, July 1, in part to address an oversight from the annual meeting it held a couple of weeks ago.
Article 1 on the special district meeting warrant will ask members to authorize the fire district to raise funds for debt service on the new fire station under construction on Main Street (Route 2).
The article is analogous to a measure routinely passed each spring in the annual town meeting, where the members approve using property taxes to service existing debt rather than have the town go into default.
The fire station is expected to be ready for occupation by December of this year, and the district anticipates making the first bond payments in the fiscal year that begins on July 1.
Chair David Moresi said on Friday that attendees at future annual district meetings can expect to see annual authorizations to raise money for payments each year until the station is paid off.
Residents gave the district the authority to borrow up to $22.5 million for the building project on a 509-32 vote at a special district meeting in 2023.
Article 2 on the upcoming special district meeting warrant will not impact the tax rate in fiscal year 2026.
The Prudential Committee is asking residents to transfer $40,000 out of the district's Stabilization Fund. It seeks to add $20,000 to the "pay of firefighters" line in the budget and $20,000 to the district's "maintenance and operation" budget.
Moresi said that the additional funding to the salary line is in response to higher call volume for the town's fire department.
"After a cursory look at the budget and looking at the trend of where we are this year and what is approved for the upcoming year, we're pretty close to what I forecast we'll need," recently installed Chief Jeffrey Dias said. "It's more to provide a cushion so we don't run short.
"With maintenance and operation, we're in uncharted territory. We're not sure of the cost of running a new station with service contracts and such. Hopefully this will give us a little bit of cushion to allow us to not have to ask for more money at the end of the year."
The Prudential Committee set the special meeting for Tuesday, July 1, at 4 p.m. at the current fire station at 34 Water St.
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