Budget briskly approved by 113 voters

$26.63M spending plan will require property tax increase of at least 21 cents


ABOVE: As president of the town council, Nancy Beye, center, encourages voters to approve the budget during the financial town meeting Monday at Lawn School. The spending plan was unanimously endorsed by her fellow councilors, Mike White, from left, Mary Meagher, Randy White and Erik Brine.

ABOVE: As president of the town council, Nancy Beye, center, encourages voters to approve the budget during the financial town meeting Monday at Lawn School. The spending plan was unanimously endorsed by her fellow councilors, Mike White, from left, Mary Meagher, Randy White and Erik Brine.

Voters took 25 minutes Monday to approve the $26.63 million budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year that was put before them at the financial town meeting.

Passage of the budget by 113 voters, which is less than 3 percent of the electorate, required the property tax rate to be set between $8.28 and $8.33 per $1,000 of assessed valuation starting in July. The minimum rate is 21 cents more than the current rate of $8.07, a 2.6 percent increase.

For the second consecutive year, the meeting was outdoors at the middle school to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Voters listening from their cars via FM radio were asked to signal their approval or dissent to motions by raising flags from their windows. Aside from a single question on the impact to the tax rate, the budget and warrants were dispatched quickly with no fanfare or vocal objections.

The remarks by Nancy Beye, president of the town council, addressed the challenges of the last 15 months during the pandemic. Despite social distancing, wearing masks, and virtual meetings, she said the community still was able to be proud of its accomplishments, including building a clubhouse at the golf course and opening the bike path through the North Pond property.

BELOW: Flags flying out of windows indicated approval, opposed to the traditional voice vote that is called for indoors. The meeting was held outdoors because of the coronavirus pandemic. PHOTOS BY ANDREA VON HOHENLEITEN

ABOVE: Flags flying out of windows indicated approval, opposed to the traditional voice vote that is called for indoors. The meeting was held outdoors because of the coronavirus pandemic. PHOTOS BY ANDREA VON HOHENLEITEN

“We meet again tonight in a much better place than we were last year,” she said. “Last June, we didn’t know what we would be up against going into the summer season. I believe we carried on in true Jamestown fashion and came together as a community, and made the best out of a difficult situation.”

Beye then urged the electorate to pass the general government portion, $11.74 million, of the budget. Only a handful of voters objected to the motion.

“The ayes have it,” said John A. Murphy, town moderator.

Keith Roberts, chairman of the school board, then made his pitch. Like Beye, he listed exploits that the district was able to be achieve in spite of COVID-19.

“The year started with a very significant accomplishment,” he said. “Our schools opened for the first day of school, and with very few exceptions, were able to provide in-person learning to all students, five days a week for the entire school day. This was not the case in many districts. Some were shortened days, every other day, and some were full distance learning until this spring.”

In September, Roberts said 11 percent of Jamestown families elected to have their children learn from home. By the fourth quarter in April, 99 percent of the student body was back in class. He then recognized the students, teachers, administrators, and parents for their hard work throughout a “very unusual year” that “was often confusing, frustrating and stressful.”

“Everyone had to adapt to new rules, restrictions and protocols,” Roberts said. “However, as a community, we pulled together and made it through one of the most challenging times in recent history.”

Following his remarks, the vote to approve $14.89 million to operate the school district, which represents about 56 percent of the budget, was “close to unanimous,” Murphy said.

Along with urging the voters to pass the 2021-22 budget, Roberts used his time to advocate for increased spending in the future to meet the needs of students in the 21st century. He said the budget passed Monday was “exclusively” based on state requirements for the upcoming academic year, with “nothing extra.”

“However, the general sense I get from the vast majority of Jamestown residents that I’ve spoken with is that they want to see the student experience grow and evolve beyond the minimums that are required,” he said. “A common theme I hear is that things are great, but if you believe in continuous improvement, then we shouldn’t be satisfied with our status quo. In my experience, growth and change is not cost-neutral, or a prioritization exercise. I look forward to working with the administration, my fellow committee members and Jamestown at large to figure out how to fund the strategic priorities so that we don’t end up in a situation where we are robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Along with the passage of housekeeping resolutions, voters approved a $1.5 million bond to paint the water tower on Howland Avenue. There was “not a single flag in opposition,” Murphy said. Voters also passed a resolution to manage an outlay of $350,000 approved for the fire department in 2020. Mary Meagher, vice president of the council, made the motion to approve the warrant, but said she was not clear about the details. She wrote an e-mail Tuesday to clarify the measure.

“At last year’s meeting, $350,000 was approved to buy a specific type of truck,” she said. “The fire department has an agreement to buy that truck for less than $350,000, and would use the remaining money to purchase other necessary apparatus. With this approval on Monday, there will not be any additional cost to the taxpayer. Resolution 6 was an effort by the financial director and the fire department to be absolutely clear about this expenditure.”