PHILLIPSTON – Voters face a 27-article warrant at the Annual Town Meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Phillipston Memorial School gym.

Among other things, voters will be asked to approve an FY24 town operating budget of $2.7 million, an increase of 4.5 percent when compared to the current fiscal year’s budget of nearly $2.6 million. In all, town officials are asking for approximately $118,000 more.

Article 7 seeks a payroll of $134,182 in salary and compensation for Phillipston’s elected officials, an increase of 19 percent over the $112,805 approved for FY23.

Phillipston and Templeton both are seeing significant increases in local contributions to the Narragansett Regional School District (NRSD). The state has set Phillipston’s minimum contribution for FY24 at $1.9 million, an 8.35 percent hike over the $1.7 million that taxpayers were required to chip in for in the current fiscal year. Templeton’s minimum contribution for FY24 is set at $7.7 million – 5.05 percent more than the $7,322,433 the town contributed to the district this year.

With Phillipston and Templeton contributing a total of $9,441,243, and total state aid of $13,373,968, the FY24 budget for the NRSD totals $27,303,944. That equates to an increase of more than 9.7 percent.

Much of the reason for the proposed increases is a growing student population. The projected number of students for the next academic year stands at 1,305. That figure represents an increase of 83 over the 1,223 students enrolled this year.

Most of the other articles on the warrant address customary items authorizing various elected and appointed boards and committees to appoint a clerk, allowing the Selectboard to apply for and expend grant monies, giving the Selectboard the power to borrow in anticipation of revenue, and allowing the town treasurer to borrow in anticipation of highway reimbursements from the state Dept. of Transportation. Article 27 asks voters to approve doubling the fine for dumping snow, ice, or “any other debris from any privately owned property into any public way” from $50 to $100.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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