The Seekonk
Reporter
MAY 2010 VOLUME 22, NO. 5
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Serving the Residents of Seekonk, Rehoboth and Surrounding Communities Since 1989
Memorial Day Parade Monday, May 31st 10:00AM. See page 18 for more details
Town Meeting May 24 7 P.M. Seekonk High School
Summer Sun & Fun Upcoming Day Trips, Camps, & Outdoor Activities
Turn to page 59
Budget and Zoning Law Change Tops Seekonk Town Meeting Agenda by Laura Calverley
The warrant for the annual town meeting on May 2 includes approximately 17 articles for residents to review. The budget for Fiscal Year 2011 and a zoning bylaw change will likely require the most discussion. The budget is approximately $ 1.5 million, an increase of almost one million over the current year’s $ 0.3 million budget.
Town Budget
Town Administrator Michael Carroll says the town is in pretty good shape financially for next year. The budget does not include any major cuts or reductions in services on the town side, although the school department is another issue. He says the town is in this position because for the past two years, as state aid has been cut significantly, Seekonk has also been making reductions. “We’ve been making cuts all along. Also, for Fiscal Year ’11, there are four collective bargaining units that have contracts for next year and three more that are now being negotiated. Of those four, in the third year of their contract, they are getting 0% salary and wage adjustment and they got only 2% for this year,” Carroll said. “By doing all these things, next year services will not be affected. The year after, we’re going to have to work hard,” he said.
School Budget
The school department is in a tougher position budget-wise for next year. At press time the schools were about $800,000 overbudget and were in the process of trying to make reductions to their requested budget. Superintendent Madeline Meyer said that some cuts had already been made, in areas such as supplies, textbooks and
utility fees, but that it “only scratched the surface.” She said further cuts would be necessary, but at this point, didn’t know what it would involve. “We’re going to explore all the possibilities and our goal is to get closer to the budget numbers in the next few weeks,” said Meyer.
warrant Articles
Many of the articles on the warrant are routine – items such as re-authorizing revolving funds, capital articles, and new street acceptances. The articles that may be of interest to residents include an article concerning the care of land around the Seekonk Library (Article #3), a zoning by-law amendment (Article #9), an article on acquiring land parcels for the Central Avenue/Rt. 152 Project (Article #10), an article submitted by the school committee, Article #12, to purchase or lease two special education vehicles and three citizen petitions.
Article 3: Seekonk Library Land
Article #3, which deals with the land and building at the Seekonk Library, is primarily administrative, says Carroll, and is something the town should have done thirty years ago. Just as the school buildings are under the care and management of the school department; the Library should be continued on page 4
“Anybody can show up (at town meeting) and have a say in what’s going to happen to their neighborhood, their money, their property, their quality of life. This is where people really have an opportunity to effect what happens to them,” said Town Administrator Michael Carroll.