MONTAGUE — Residents will gather to vote on 25 warrant articles at Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, deciding on funding for the airport, ongoing litigation with FirstLight Hydro Generating Co., and design work for library renovations or reconstruction.

The meeting will be held Saturday at Turners Falls High School starting at 9 a.m.

Passage of Article 7 would allocate $419,677 to the fiscal year 2025 operation of Turner Falls Municipal Airport, which Town Administrator Steve Ellis said has faced a “huge stumbling block” in the wake of an unexpected $16 million cost to install a solar array on its property that would generate roughly $152,261 in annual revenue for Montague.

A warrant article appropriating $152,261 to meet the revenue shortfall was approved at Special Town Meeting in March after lengthy discussion and debate. Ellis said he expects the airport funding will draw considerable discussion at Saturday’s meeting as well.

“The airport has worked very, very hard to become a wholly self-sustaining enterprise over the course of the last several years. The failure to realize an expected solar development on the property led to a revenue shortfall that will persist in FY25,” Ellis said. “We’re expecting it will be well discussed, and hopefully, it will also be funded, because it is necessary.”

In response to criticism over the funding requested at Special Town Meeting, Airport Manager Bryan Camden explained the airport pursued the solar project in an attempt to raise revenue and lower the amount of municipal funding it will need in the future.

Ellis said passage of Article 15, which allows the town to allocate $260,000 toward paying legal fees and valuation experts associated with the town’s legal battle with FirstLight, is a “tremendously important” decision. He said the company has challenged the town’s utility appraisals for numerous consecutive years.

“It will pay for the services of an expert utility appraiser, and that expertise will be a benefit both in conduct of new appraisal work and preparation of that work for presentation in court. The other portion of it will be for legal counsel to work with us and in representing the case in court,” Ellis said. “FirstLight is a major portion of the total tax base of our community. ... This is pretty routine business for them, relative not only to Montague, but other communities. This article will help ensure that the town is able to successfully defend its stated valuations at the Appellate Tax Board and protect the real estate and personal property tax revenue upon which governmental services rely.”

Passage of Article 17 would distribute $150,000 to plan and design the renovation or reconstruction of the Carnegie Public Library in accordance with Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program guidelines. Ellis said he anticipates the town will advance to receive a construction program grant in the next phase.

Voters will also decide whether to approve $283,800 in funding for the Department of Public Works to upgrade and repair the Montague Center Pump Station in Article 16, a rehabilitation that Ellis said is “long overdue” and likely to rise in cost should the project be further postponed.

“We don’t need to replace it in its entirety,” Ellis noted. “But our Clean Water Facility staff working with this budget will be able to do a long-overdue rehabilitation of this pump station, and just ensure against the loss of service. When this type of infrastructure fails, it’s much more expensive to remediate as an emergency action than it is to do it in a planned way.”

Other articles include votes on Montague’s nearly $12.41 million budget to operate town departments for fiscal year 2025, allocating $296,000 to rehabilitate the parking lot at 1 Avenue A, transferring $52,250 for maintenance of the Colle Building, allocating $837,356 toward Franklin County Technical School expenses, paying roughly $12.14 million for the town’s portion of the Gill-Montague Regional School District’s operations, spending $24,000 to upgrade Sheffield Elementary School’s main office, and allocating $175,500 for Hillcrest Elementary School pavement and sidewalks.

To view the full warrant, visit montague-ma.gov/files/Annual_Town_Meeting_5-4-24.pdf.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.