SHELBURNE — Voters will decide whether to share policing services with Buckland through an increased budget line item and if $111,000 is too large a price tag for a roof-mounted solar array on the Highway Department’s new pole barn during this year’s Annual Town Meeting.

The meeting, with 32 articles on the warrant, will be held Tuesday, May 2, at 6:30 p.m. at Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School.

One of the most anticipated decisions the voters will make is about funding shared-policing services through a budget line item. The town’s exploration of shared policing started in March 2022 with the receipt of a $200,000 state grant to make a plan to transition to having one police department for the two towns. Since then, police have hosted three public forums on the subject.

The two Selectboards hope to fold Buckland’s department and use Shelburne for the two towns, citing how the police reform bill of 2020 essentially eliminated part-time officers by getting rid of part-time officer training and requiring all officers to receive full-time training, thus making the way police services function in rural towns more costly.

This will come before voters not as an individual article, but as a line item in the budget. Shared policing falls under the Selectboard’s purview.

“I have not encountered any significant opposition,” Shelburne Selectboard Chair Andrew Baker said. “This is surprising. It has been tried in the past and shot down by voters.”

The proposed fiscal year 2024 budget for police has increased by 66.8%, but this reflects Shelburne and Buckland’s share of the cost. The actual price for shared policing will be much less for Shelburne if both towns approve the decision. If shared policing does not pass, the excess funds for the policing budget will go back into the town’s general fund.

Another funding item that town officials say is likely to generate discussion is the request for $111,000 from the Energy Committee to install a solar array on the pole barn.

During last year’s Annual Town Meeting, the voters approved construction of a pole barn for sheltering the Highway Department’s equipment. Although construction has not yet started, a company has been selected to do the work.

“In designing that project we realized we were building … the ideal surface for solar,” Baker explained.

The Finance Committee does not support this project, saying this is not a traditional capital request. The project would decrease electric costs, but it requires an up-front investment that voters may not approve.

Additionally the warrant contains $63,670 worth of capital requests to complete payments on Highway Department equipment and $6,000 to buy new election equipment. The election equipment is being purchased after mechanical errors occurred during the last election in town.

The last three articles on the warrant ask voters to approve changing the Mohawk Trail Regional School District agreement that outlines the funding formula for town assessments. These articles came to the town last minute, and are several pages long.

“It’s a lot of text last minute,” Baker said.

Should the town assessment formula change, it would better align with the state’s funding formula by factoring in School Choice students and residents who opt to attend a charter school.

The proposed FY24 operating budget coming before voters is roughly $5.34 million, which is 8.4% higher than the current year’s figures, but Baker explained the numbers will end up being smaller if both Buckland and Shelburne approve shared policing.

“I am feeling good about the budget,” he said. “We will still wind up in solid financial shape. We are fortunate that we do not need to do overrides.”

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

An earlier version of this article unclearly described the decision regarding shared-policing services coming before Annual Town Meeting voters. Because shared policing falls under the Selectboard’s purview, there is no individual warrant article about policing. Instead, there is a line item in the budget that identifies the increased cost of shared policing. In the event that voters decide not to share policing services, they can amend the budget line item with appropriate funding amounts to retain two separate police departments.

]]>