SHELBURNE — In a four-article Special Town Meeting on Monday, residents will consider buying a new police cruiser, as well as three other articles spending between $300 and $40,000 on various recommended town projects.

The meeting, to be held at Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School at 6:30 p.m., was called to address the police cruiser, as the town’s 2016 cruiser failed unexpectedly. An affirmative vote would appropriate $63,000 for the purchase of a hybrid 2023 Ford Police Interceptor. Half the money would come from the Vehicle Stabilization Account and half from a Community Compact Efficiency and Regionalization Grant.

Voters will also consider transferring $40,000 from the Stabilization Account to the Memorial Hall Theater Renovation Account. The town has already appropriated $110,000 toward Memorial Hall Theater renovations. The total $150,000 commitment is needed to match a Cultural Facilities Fund grant. To make up the rest, the Memorial Hall Association will raise $37,000.

Residents will also consider using $6,000 from the Bridge Street Tree Stabilization Fund to buy material for new tree wells along Bridge Street, and appropriating $300 through taxes to add to the Highway Department’s Snow and Ice Account. The extra $300 would create a level-funded budget in fiscal year 2024, according to Town Administrator Terry Narkewicz.

Town officials anticipated holding a Special Town Meeting following the Annual Town Meetings of Shelburne and Buckland, where voters approved merging the Buckland and Shelburne police departments through a vote on the combined budget. They believed they’d need to hold a Special Town Meeting to amend Shelburne’s FY24 tax rate by reducing the Police Department’s Salary and Departmental Expense Accounts. Instead, the town found it could correct the tax rate by reporting the revenue from Buckland’s quarterly payments to Shelburne for policing services on a tax recap sheet.

“The recap sheet is submitted prior to setting our tax rate so any potential impact from the merger would be negated,” Narkewicz wrote. “The additional funds in the Police Department budget voted at Annual Town Meeting will revert to free cash at the end of the fiscal year.”

Reach Bella Levavi at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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