SAUGUS — On the fourth night of the annual Town Meeting, members approved a $97.3 million operating budget for fiscal year 2022.
Of that budget, $67.4 million is for town departments and the remaining amount is the school department budget. No more than $1.4 million will come from the town’s stabilization fund.
Several Town Meeting members raised concerns that the school department budget was raised by just $300,000 over the previous year’s budget, after being level-funded last year. However, the budget passed with no changes.
In addition, the Town Meeting approved an expense of $33,500 to purchase a columbarium for the interment of ashes at the Saugus Cemetery.
Cemetery Commission Chair Rich Thompson explained that the new columbarium was desperately needed as the current one has only two unsold spots left.
“We have citizens in town with relatives who have passed who are waiting to put their ashes somewhere and there’s nowhere to put them,” Thompson said.
The new columbarium will be built next to the current one.
Also approved were a $45,000 expense for a new Animal Control vehicle and $20,000 for cameras at the Belmonte Elementary School.
In addition, town meeting members instructed Town Manager Scott Crabtree to investigate the possibility of creating a recreational area on the town-owned property that formerly housed a water tower on Summit Avenue.
Planning Board Chair Peter Rossetti, who proposed the warrant article, noted that the lot is one of the highest points in town and that many in the neighborhood already use the area for walking.
