Natick Town Meeting Approves $175 M Revised Budget, CPA

NATICK, MA - Natick's Annual Town Meeting will continue Tuesday after members approved the town's $175 million revised budget last Tuesday and the approval of the Community Preservation Act on Thursday to be placed on the ballot for the next election.

Tuesday's discussion will focus on debate on a proposed moratorium on residential cluster development applications as well as a proposed Pickerel Pond trail connector.

On the first night of Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 26, Town Moderator Frank Foss decided not to utilize the electronic voting system because it failed to record some votes during a test question, calling it "too unreliable."

"There is no way I could even think that the voting is correct," he said as he decided to conduct the meeting the old-fashioned way - by raising hands.

The issue was resolved for the second night of debate on Thursday.

The pace quickened shortly thereafter as Articles 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20 and 23 were passed unanimously as part of a consent agenda. These included the FY 22 omnibus budget as well as the FY 22 budgets for the Morse Institute Library and the Bacon Free Library. Also approved as part of this motion were a school transportation subsidy and funding for Pegasus, the town's public cable access channel.

Town budget approved by a two-thirds margin

Article 7, the town's omnibus budget, was the major article discussed during the first night of debate on Tuesday, April 26. The $175 million revised budget passed by a two-thirds vote.

Town Administrator James Errickson explained that the pandemic greatly affected the town's budget because of the 30% decrease in local receipts combined with inflation.

"We are certainly not immune to those impacts that are global but are certainly felt locally," he said, noting the collaborative effort among town departments to ensure that essential services are provided.

Errickson added that Natick will have to explore an override for FY 24.

State Rep. David Linsky prefaced the town's budget discussion by noting Natick will receive a $113,077 increase in local aid through the House budget approved last week, a 2.7% increase. In the Chapter 70 account that provides funding to public school districts, Natick will receive an increase of $1.8 million, bringing the total amount to $12.5 million, an increase of 17.9% over the previous year.

Other school districts received an average increase of 4.5%.

"This is an extraordinary commitment that the Massachusetts Legislature is making to the people of this town," Linsky said. "And I want us to be aware of that."

The Natick Public Schools had requested a budget of $80,492,330, while the town appropriated $79 million, leaving a$ 1,492,330 shortfall. About $1.1 million of that will be addressed by grant funding and $400,000 in revolving funds.

Night Two: CPA Approved

The second night featured debate on the adoption of the Community Preservation Act by the town proposed in Article 21, which passed 104-16-1. The Natick Historical Commission, Natick Affordable Housing Trust and the Natick Open Space Advisory Committee cosponsored the article.

Adoption of the CPA will result in a local property tax surcharge of 1% after a $100,000 exemption to establish a fund for three community investment purposes: historic preservation; open space and recreation, and affordable housing. The CPA has been around in Massachusetts since 2000, and more than half of the state’s cities and towns previously have adopted it.

Ganesh Ramachandran of the Natick Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board noted that 65% of the state's population lives in a CPA community.

While the focus of the CPA is on the areas specified, Ramachandran explained that its impact is more far-reaching.

"In reality, CPA is also an opportunity for furthering equity, for bettering our quality of life, and making Natick ready in terms of Climate adaptation," he said.

Some ideas for the fund would be to create affordable housing for elders and veterans as well as the acquisition and preservation of the historic Savin House. It could also be used to create accessible units in the Natick Housing Authority.

The estimated annual surcharge for Natick households would be $67.51 per year.

Questions arose about how the money would be allocated to different projects. Ramachandran explained that a Community Preservation Committee of nine members would be creased to hear proposals. By CPA statute, a minimum of 10% of the money would have to go toward each area, with the remainder to be divided at the committee's discretion. It does not have to be spent each year. Five designees have to be members of associated town committees.

Another issue raised was the "sticker shock" between facing this as well as an operational override in addition to the usual 2.5% property tax increase.

The Morse Institute Library budget of $2,434,034.59 and the $227,271 budget for the Bacon Free Library also were approved on Thursday. Article 15 was approved to apppropriate money for capital equipment and improvements for the town, which included eight vehicles and 13 infrastructure projects. Free cash would cover $165,000, while $252,491 would come from other available town funds.