ERVING — To fund various departmental budget increases, Special Town Meeting voters will be asked on Wednesday to approve a $1.83 million tax levy limit override.

The Special Town Meeting will start at 7 p.m. at Erving Elementary School.

According to Erving officials, this override proposal was formulated “over the course of several months” as they “wholistically evaluated” the fiscal year 2024 budget, conferred with department heads and fielded input from residents at public meetings.

“As a group, we carefully considered where cuts were made in the FY24 budget as well as where reallocations were made on the floor of the Annual Town Meeting,” the Selectboard explained in a letter shared with Erving residents at an information session last week. “This budget override proposal will support the town in sustaining the service levels that Erving residents are accustomed to and rely upon for years to come.”

Articles 3 through 6 of the 11-item meeting warrant pertain to the override, considering various departmental budget increases that sum up to the proposed override amount. There are eight budget categories that would see increases coherent with the override: general government ($240,000 increase), public safety ($125,000 increase), public works ($92,000 increase), wastewater enterprise fund ($39,000 increase), health and human services ($5,000 increase), culture and recreation ($25,000 increase), benefits ($350,000 increase) and capital improvement ($955,000 increase). These categories are broken down into between one and four line items each.

The override would translate to a collective estimated residential and open space tax increase of 17.75% from FY23 to FY24, compared to the increase of 2.63% that would have occurred without the override. For a property assessed at $225,000, for example, this would translate to a property tax increase of $272.25 from FY23 to FY24, compared to the increase of $47.25 that would have occurred without the override. This amounts to a collective increase of $190,607.10 in property tax impact, with individual increases relative to assessed property value.

For commercial, industrial and personal property (CIP) taxes, the budget entails a collective increase of 2.51% with no override and 17.66% with the override. This would translate to a collective increase of about $1.64 million in CIP tax impact, with individual increases relative to assessed property value.

The override will be brought to a ballot vote at a special election on Monday, Oct. 23, regardless of whether the override passes at Special Town Meeting, as is required by state law. If it does pass at the meeting, this ballot vote would be the final step needed to approve the override. If it doesn’t pass at the meeting, the election would be solely procedural and the outcome would be “a fruitless act” to approve the override, Selectboard member Scott Bastarache explained.

Alternatively, if the amount of money specified for the override in the warrant is amended at the Special Town Meeting, the Oct. 23 election would need to be rescheduled and re-advertised within a 35-day period, per state law.

The Oct. 23 special election will be held from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Town Hall.

Other articles

Other articles to come before Town Meeting voters involve establishing a special education reserve fund, appropriating $22,716.85 to the opioid settlement stabilization fund and appropriating $100,000 to the general stabilization fund to replenish some of what was used to construct the Erving Public Library.

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.