Swampscott Town Meeting approves approximately $53M budget

SWAMPSCOTT – Town Meeting approved a town budget totaling almost $53 million for the upcoming fiscal year Tuesday night.There was a lot of discussion regarding capital improvement projects and how they would be funded, however. For the first time the Capital Improvement Committee (CAP) recommended and Town Meeting ultimately approved funding two capital improvement projects through separate capital outlay expenditure exclusion articles. Capital outlay expenditure exclusions allow a community to finance capital improvement items by passing a property tax surcharge. The Finance committee explained that unlike a debt exclusion article, which is paid off over many years, the capital exclusion tax surcharge remains in effect for only one year. Town Meeting approved purchasing a new fire truck and paying for road repairs using this method.FinCom member Cindy Merkle said the assessed value of an average home in town is $535,000 and the average homeowner would pay approximately $58.85 for the fire truck, which would cost $300,000.She explained using the capital outlay exclusion is like paying cash and the town would not be saddled with paying interest on borrowing and it does not increase the town’s debt, which helps its bond rating.Town Meeting approved funding the fire truck and $150,000 in road repairs using the capital outlay exclusion procedure. Now the matter will be sent to the Board of Selectmen, which must vote whether to put the referendum question on a town-wide ballot or not.Another capital improvement article on the warrant, which authorizes the town to borrow almost $1.3 million to pay for capital improvement projects, also passed. Included in that was a total of $808,610 for 11 different projects in the school department including a new roof for Clarke Elementary School and the purchase of textbooks.Also approved in that article was a sum of $900,000 for various public works projects including completing waste water system upgrades, improvements to the water tower and playground/open space improvements. Town Meeting approved $49,000 for the police department to purchase one new police cruiser and seven portable radios. The article also authorizes the town to borrow approximately $176,000 to purchase a new generator, a radio master box and a watch desk with equipment for the fire department. Other projects included in the article include lighting replacement and asbestos abatement for the public library and $68,600 for a geographic information system for planning purposes. It also provides $50,000 for technology upgrades town-wide.