ASHFIELD — In a speedy 13-minute Special Town Meeting on Monday, residents unanimously approved all five warrant articles before the Selectboard turned its attention back to its regularly scheduled meeting, during which members approved a lower tax rate for fiscal year 2025.

The seven voters who attended the Special Town Meeting, in addition to the Selectboard and Finance Committee members, gave their approval to appropriating $103,450 to pay off the remaining debt on the purchase of a fire truck. Because voters at Annual Town Meeting in 2023 approved having the town borrow up to $300,000 to buy the fire truck and the town ultimately only needed to borrow $260,000, another vote on Monday entailed rescinding the borrowing authority for the remaining $40,000 so it can be removed from the town’s annual report to the state.

Voters also approved appropriating $60,000 to buy a generator for the Fire Station and Town Hall, rescinding borrowing authority of up to $250,000 for the Ashfield Lake Dam repair project that was paid for with grant funding, and moving $77,891 from the Septic Repair Program Fund to a new Wastewater Treatment Capital Repair/Replacement Account.

After taking care of the items on the Special Town Meeting warrant, the Selectboard welcomed Board of Assessors Chair Faye Whitney-Lussier for the annual tax classification hearing. Whitney-Lussier said the town is able to lower its tax rate thanks to the installation of new power lines over the past year, which has enabled the town to split its tax levy among more properties and the utility companies.

“This is largely because we had a large amount of new growth this year,” Whitney-Lussier explained. “It’s all because of power lines, $19 million worth. They may be ugly but they bring us a lot of cash.”

The Selectboard voted unanimously to adopt a single tax rate of $13.44 per $1,000 valuation, which is $1.17 less than fiscal year 2024’s rate. Whitney-Lussier said the average tax bill for a single-family home should be about $50 less than last fiscal year’s.

According to data from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Ashfield’s tax rate has fluctuated over the past two decades, reaching a high of $17.61 in fiscal year 2023. The last time the town saw a tax rate in the $13 range was in fiscal year 2011.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.