EAST LONGMEADOW – It was an historic evening for East Longmeadow. Voters came out to the last Town Meeting before the town changes to a council-manager form of government. Despite this, turnout was low.

Town Meeting approved 15 out of 17 articles on the May 16 Annual Town Meeting warrant. No action was taken on two articles.

One of these no action articles called for the establishment of recall procedures for elected officials, but since the charter includes recall provisions the article was considered a moot point, Town Moderator Russell Denver explained.

Residents also approved the $52.9 million fiscal year 2017 (FY17) budget, which includes funding for the creation of a human resources department with a staff of 1.5 full-time equivalent personnel.

Appropriations Committee Chair Eric Madison said the budget also includes funding to increase hours of full-time coverage for the Fire Department.

“This is the second year of a two-year phased-in [project],” he noted.

The budget maintains a “healthy” level of reserve funds, which is approximately 7.25 percent of the budget, Madison added.

“[The budget] uses no free cash at all, none of our savings, to balance our annual cost and it continues to contribute to the town’s Other Post Employment Benefit liabilities,” he explained.

Madison said the FY17 budget does not use the levy capacity – more than $1 million remains in unused levy capacity.

“This will save the taxpayers approximately 50 percent of potential increases to our tax rate allowed under Proposition 2 1/2,” he added. “The potential rate if we used the full levy capacity would be $22.25 [per $1,000 of assessed value]. Under the proposed budget, the tax rate would go up to  $21.68.”

The School Department budget is $28.5 million, the Department of Public Works was funded for $3.9 million and the public safety budget, which includes the Police and Fire departments, is $3.7 million.

Residents also approved more than $1 million in capital projects for the community, including a town hall sprinkler system for $113,300, the second-year renovations to town hall that includes American with Disabilities Act accessible bathrooms for $125,427, a police cruiser for $40,255, a district school bus for $90,000, and a bathroom renovation project at Mountain View Elementary School.

Former Town Moderator James Sheils, who served in the position for the past 12 years, was also awarded a commemorative plaque by community members and received a standing ovation from townspeople at the start of the meeting.

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