Shutesbury library project faces last ballot hurdle

June 22, 2022 | Doc Pruyne
dpruyne@thereminder.com

SHUTESBURY – The proposal for a new library, funded by a state grant of $3.95 million and $1.3 million from existing town accounts, received additional funding at the Annual Town Meeting on May 21. The financial package passed by voters, 422 to 85, also included $1.2 million in borrowing.

On June 28, voters will be asked at a Special Town Election to vote on whether that borrowing is separated out from the town’s operating budget. A “yes” vote will authorize the so-called debt exclusion under the commonwealth’s proposition 2 ½ general law. That sounds a bit murky to Town Clerk Grace Bannasch, who wants voters to keep it simple. Yes is yes, no is no, forget the technical language.

“The language is set by state statute,” Bannasch said. “There’s not much we can do with it, and…I’ve heard from people on all sides of this issue that the question is confusing. I completely agree.”

According to the sample ballot on the town website, voters will decide in Question 1, “Shall the Town of Shutesbury be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition two and one-half, so called, the amounts required to pay for the bond issued in order to design, construct, originally furnish and equip the new Shutesbury Library?”

Under the proposition 2 ½, if a town’s budget increases more than 2.5 percent the town must conduct an override vote to receive authorization from voters to exceed that limit. One method to avoid the difficulties of an override vote is to exclude the borrowing for big ticket purchases – a fire truck or a piece of land – from the town’s operating budget. That strategy is allowed under the law as a debt exclusion, a strategy that helps the town stay flexible in carrying out its day to day operations.

The warrant article at the June 28 Special Town Election will ask voters to approve a debt exclusion for $1.2 million in library borrowing. That will nullify the impact of the loan on the calculation of the yearly budget increase. Excluding the debt will keep the increase in the town budget this year at 1.1 percent, well within the limits of proposition 2 ½.

“Do you agree to this condition or not?” Bannasch asked. “Back to that bottom line, most people need to know that yes means yes, no means no.”

A “no” vote is a vote against the project as a whole. Enough “no” votes would scuttle it. According to Mary Anne Antonellis, director of the M.N. Spear Memorial Library, if voters defeat the debt exclusion the whole package falls apart.

“If the vote fails, then we decline the grant and we don’t build the library,” Antonellis said.

Antonellis wanted to reassure residents that support for the new library is ongoing. The Friends of the Library have raised $10,000 since May 3, when library staff wrote Article 5 for the Annual Town Meeting.

“The Friends of the Library are committed to continuing their fundraising efforts for the life of the loan,” Antonellis said. “The Friends have been fundraising, and will continue to fundraise, so when we get to that point of taking the loan, we can borrow a smaller amount.”

Antonellis said the vote on June 28 will approve a debt exclusion for $1.2 million, the amount required to accept the state grant. Ongoing fundraising efforts by the Friends, she said, may also be used yearly, to reduce the debt payment and the impact on the tax rate.

Bannasch expects a high turnout on June 28. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m in the basement of Town Hall. As of press time, 147 residents had requested absentee ballots, of which 81 had been returned. No ballots will be counted until after the polls close on election day.

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