HOLLAND — The Annual Town Meeting on May 30 had 89 registered voters in attendance and the warrant items covered mainly budgetary topics.

Of the 24 articles on the warrant, all articles passed, with the exception of Articles 9-14, which were passed over.

Articles 9-12 had a motion to pass over voting because they are being funded with American Rescue Plan Act money.

Article 9 requested up to $30,000 for gravestone repair in the cemetery. Article 10 requested $6,000 for a lawnmower. Article 11 requested $265,370 to purchase and equip a loader for the Highway Department. Article 12 asked for funding of $71,480 for the purchase of a Ford F350 four-wheel drive truck and snow plow package for the Highway Department, to replace the 2006 F350 diesel truck currently being used.

A motion was made to pass over articles 13 and 14, which does not mean the articles failed, however they were not voted on.

Article 13 requested $71,480 for the purchase of a Ford F350 four-wheel drive truck and snow plow package for the Highway Department to replace one of the departments vehicles being used now, a 2011 Ford F350 pickup truck.

Article 14 requested $75,000 for the purchase of a used all-wheel skid steer Bobcat.

Articles 13 and 14 will not be funded by the town at this time. As a resolution to the requests, the Selectboard, Finance Committee, and Highway Department will continue to collaborate to find solutions for any issue that may come up in the future that would require the truck or equipment that was requested but not funded for fiscal year 2024.

Town Administrator Stacy Stout said the meeting was “straightforward, and there was a healthy amount of free cash available to spend.”

The town chose to fund several stabilization accounts with some of this money, including adding $269,000 to the capital purchase stabilization account to make purchases needed in the future such as new police vehicles, town building repairs, and similar.

Stout also said the town voted to add $277,000 to a road improvement stabilization account.
Stout said the town focused on “putting money away so you’ll have it in the future” for the overall theme of this year’s meeting.

The other major vote in the meeting was to accept new floodplain bylaws in accordance with FEMA flood zone map changes, which passed. Stout said there were not drastic changes in the new FEMA maps.
The town also approved fiscal year 2024 operating budget which totaled $8.2 million, an increase of 4.9% from 2023.

Of this, the elementary school budget was approved at $3.1 million, an increase of 5.5% from last year.

Tantasqua Regional School was allotted $1.5 million, a 2.3% increase from last year.