The Selectmen approved 23 warrant articles for the annual town meeting last Thursday and there are several that come with potentially high price tags. These are articles independent of the budget appropriations.
One article calls for a property tax override the proceeds of which would go to a fund to meet the financial obligations associated with medical expenses for personnel hurt in the line of duty. To date the town has covered these expenses through bonding but the DOR raised concerns about continuing that. The amount over the levy limit of 2 1/2% is whatever is required to get a net sum of $500,000 per year. This would be a home rule petition and if passed would eventually need to be signed by the Governor. It could take up to two years which is the reason for the next article.
A second article to address above medical expenses is required to bridge the gap between now and when the tax kicks in. It may be a year or two and require $1 million ($500k per year) from free cash and avoid any more bonding to cover the expense.
Another article seeks funds to reconstruct Central Avenue from Brook to Valley Road. Joe Lynch, Director of the DPW mentioned a price tag of $3.1 million but said it was likely to be lower than that. There were plans developed about two years or so ago that included a bike path and safety changes (ie pedestrian crosswalks and speed mitigation measures. To replace the road in kind would be ~$1.2 million. The selectment acknowledged that something had to be done just not sure what or how — or how to fund (e.g. bonding).
Other articles seeking appropriations include one for a Housing Production Plan which has been estaimated at between $10 – 30,000K and another for the balance of the Master Plan. Note that the first public forum on the visioning phase of the Master Plan will be at Tucker on January
Other articles included but were not limited to zoning articles regarding assisted living facilities, preserving the old “hat shop” in Milton Village as a historic site, and putting condominiums in a site out on Rt 138 (another empty nursery site). Like most zoning articles the site are identified not by address but by location criteria. For example, the detached condominium residence will be:
on a lot (including a combination of lots in common ownership) with at least 150’ of frontage on a state highway containing at least 60,000 square feet of land (not including wetlands), on a property where a non-conforming and/or commercial use has or had operated through the use of existing commercial buildings for a period of greater than ten (10) years after 1970, a residential use for detached condominium dwellings shall be permitted by a Special Permit
There is also an article regarding medical marijuana and quite a few more.
Here is a list of all the articles approved:
2013 ATM New Articles
January 7, 2013
1. Blue Hills Regional Vocation School – Establish Stabilization Fund
2. Treasurer-Rescind Unissued Borrowings
3. Selectmen-Design Review Plan Appropriation-East Milton Square
4. Planning Board-Master Plan Appropriation
5. Selectmen-Housing Production Plan Appropriation
6. Selectmen-Amend General Bylaws or Zoning Bylaws regarding medical use of marijuana
7. Selectmen-Home Rule Petition to authorize override to fund public safety personnel medical expenses and establishment of special purpose fund for payment of those expenses
8. Selectmen-Appropriation to fund legally obligated public safety medical bills
9. Selectmen-Appropriation for purchase of land on Deer Run Lane
10. Citizens Petition-Amend Zoning Bylaws-Detached Condominium Residence Development
11. Planning Board-Amend/Add to Zoning Bylaws Section III, Assisted Living Residence Development Section
12. Historical Commission-Amend/Add to Zoning Bylaws, Paragraph 9 to Section VII, Subsection C. (Swifts Hat Shop)
13. Selectmen-Amend General Bylaws-Chapter 6B, Section 2, Traffic Commission appointments
14-16 Retirement Board Articles, submitted by the Retirement Board
17. Selectmen-Amend Chapter 4, Section 17.1 of the General Bylaws-Capital Improvement Planning Committee Addition
18. Citizens Petition-Constitutional Amendment to reverse Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission
19. Selectmen-Establish Fire Space Needs Committee
20. Selectmen-Appropriation from the Stabilization Fund
21. Selectmen-Appropriation for reconstruction of Central Avenue
22. Selectmen-Discharge Senior Center Building Committee, IT Committee and the Recreational Facilities Committee
24. Selectmen-Appropriation to FY13 Reserve Fund