WHITMAN – Monday’s special Town Meeting wrapped up with the near-unanimous approval of two articles pertaining to the planned DPW building project.
The first appropriated $1,143,271 to pay additional incidental and related costs for the project transferred from excess funds originally borrowed or appropriated to pay the costs of other varied capital projects at town meetings in 2017 and 2019.
The second appropriates $2,200,000 for any additional costs involved in the design, construction and equipping of the building – funded with Plymouth County ARPA funds from the sewer force main project.
Neither needs to go to a ballot question as the original $17.8 million approved at the polls last year did.
“The town has the ability to use American Rescue Plan Act funds for certain types of projects,” Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said. “The town sewer force main project is one of the eligible projects. The DPW building construction was not an eligible project.”
A paving grant for the sewer force main project, helped bring it in under budget, Carter said, and the use of $2.2 million in ARPA for the DPW building also helped.
The total increase in rates will be 70 cents for the second half of the force main project and a notice that was to go out Oct. 15 that rates were going up by $1.25 was therefore not sent out.
While a debt exclusion dies when the debt is paid, the rate increased become part of the base rate.
A $1.50 rate increase last year was entirely related to replacing the force sewer main, former Town Administrator Frank Lynam said.
Requiring a two-thirds margin to pass article 15, Town Moderator Michael Seele had ruled it achieved that threshold, but a standing vote. The resulting 213-4 counted vote vindicated that call.
Discussion of both articles centered on why, as with most articles on the warrant, funding sources were those originally approved at past Town Meetings for other purposes.
Auburnville Way resident Robert Kimball also asked why the extra $2.2 million was required.
DPW Highway Superintendent Bruce Martin said it was because the actual cost of the low bid was higher than the estimates due to soil conditions at the site as well as inflation.
“It’s across the board,” Martin said. “It’s happening to a lot of municipal projects.”
He said former Water-Sewer Superintendent Dennis Smith found leftover funds still on the books after some projects were finished. The route 18 and 27 projects came in under budget as did others listed in the article as funding sources.
Cindy Landreville of Harvard Street asked why it has taken so long for all that funding to finally come back to the town while nothing has been done to lower water and sewer rates for taxpayers.
Martin and Smith said the funds came from water-sewer enterprise accounts had to return to those accounts.
“It would be available to be spent on other water-sewer projects, but not other town projects,” Martin said.
“I’m sorry to be picking on you, but most of the monies tonight are coming from unexpected, unexpended funds from 2016 forward?” Landreville said.
“By leaving it in the articles mentioned, it’s still water and sewer money,” Smith said. “It’s a similar problem that fits within the language of the article.”
The DPW had considered using the funds from the routes 18 and 27 intersection project on emergency power supplies for traffic lights, Smith said. With nothing left on that project to spend it on after the lighting work didn’t happen, “it made sense to turn the money back in.”
Carter said the $17.8 million for the DPW was done as a debt exclusion and went onto taxes, while the $2.2 million in Article 15 will not be, but there will still be a debt payment due each year through water-sewer rates.