Town Meeting Articles of the Day (Articles 15 through 18)
Wednesday, April 20, 2022: In preparation for the 2022 Annual Town Meeting on April 25, 2022 at 7pm in the Ayer Shirley Regional High School Auditorium, the Town will be publishing the “Articles of the Day” to provide further information on each of the Town Meeting Warrant Articles. Each day, the Town will feature two or three Town Meeting Warrant Articles with a summary of each Article. The complete Town Meeting Warrant and additional information regarding the Warrant Articles can be found here.
For any questions about the Town Meeting Warrant Articles, please do not hesitate to contact the Town Manager’s Office at 978-772-8220 x100 or at tm@ayer.ma.us
For questions about Town Meeting Procedures and Rules of Order, please do not hesitate to contact James O’Conor, the Town Moderator at joconor@ayer.ma.us
Article 15: Capital Budget Requests (Transfer Article): This Article would authorize the transfer of $312,696 from the Town’s Capital Stabilization Fund to purchase the capital requests listed in Article 15. Per the Town’s Capital Planning Policy, any capital request up to $50,000 is recommended to be paid for from available funds and/or the Capital Stabilization Fund. These capital requests were reviewed and approved by the Town’s Capital Planning Committee. For more information on the FY 2023 Capital Budget Requests, please visit www.ayer.ma.us/townmeeting
Article 16: GASB-45/OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits Fund): This Article would fund the Town’s OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) Fund in the total amount of $300,000 of which $119,000 comes from the Town’s local meals tax and $181,000 comes from Free Cash. The funding of this Article is per the Town’s Financial Policies on recommendation of the Town’s OPEB Board of Trustees. For more information on the Town’s OPEB Fund and OPEB Board of Trustees please visit www.ayer.ma.us/opeb
Article 17: First Year Interest – General Fund Borrowing (Raise & Appropriate): This Article would raise and appropriate $61,900 required to fund the first year’s interest charges and associated administrative expenses on all General Fund borrowing/bonding for the items set forth in Article 13 as authorized by this Town Meeting.
Article 18: Funding for Aquatic Weed Control for Town Ponds (Raise & Appropriate): This Article would raise and appropriate $30,000 for the purposes of funding the aquatic weed control program for the Town’s ponds as recommended/requested by the Town’s Conservation Commission.