A Closer Look at Warrant Article #12 - $500k for Highway Reconstruction & Maintenance

Other than the operating budget itself - Warrant Article #2 for $5.1 million - Warrant Article #12 is by far the most expensive of the Town’s 2024 warrant articles. Here’s the text of the warrant article:

Warrant Article #12  has two unusual complexities. 

The first complexity is that the warrant article says it is for “reconstruction and maintenance;” however, the details of the text say it is for paving dirt roads. Many people may think that paving a dirt road is a highway improvement rather than “reconstruction and maintenance,” but there’s nothing intentionally misleading as the definition of “highway reconstruction” would include paving a dirt road. 

One paving project is for a short section of Priest Road between Rt 152 and the gated rear entrance of the Fire Station. Here’s a short video of that section of road, starting at the Fire Station gate. 

Another paving project is for Stevens Hill Road from Deerfield Road to the paved section of Stevens Hill Road. Here’s a short video of that section of road, starting from Deerfield Road. 

The remainder is for paving a short section of the entrances to various unspecified dirt roads, as prioritized by the Highway Director. The portion of dirt roads where they intersect with higher-speed paved roads is especially prone to potholing because vehicles loosen gravel accelerating onto the paved road. This paved apron also reduces the amount of time that the grader must tread onto the main paved road. 

Here’s an example photo of a paved apron.

The second complexity concerns how this warrant article is funded. To reduce the immediate tax impact of the warrant article, and to stay within the 4% tax cap, the Board of Selectmen decided to use $150k from the unassigned fund balance. The unassigned fund is composed of taxes previously collected that were not spent as part of past years’ budgets. While this is a legitimate use of those funds, voters should be aware that they’re not “free” money like that which the federal government gives to towns as incentives for certain kinds of spending. This money came from local property taxes. Spending it on this warrant article precludes spending it on something else. So, the total tax impact is about $0.60 per $1,000, not the $0.42 that the text of the warrant article implies. 

While the Board of Selectmen was unanimous in recommending this warrant article to the voters, the Budget Committee recommended it by a bare 6-5 majority, with the dissenters having a variety of objections to this $500k expenditure. 

Tuesday, March 12 is your turn to vote.