Chaplin voters decide

May 12—CHAPLIN — Voters decided some issues during the annual town meeting held on Monday night, but the decision on the 2022-23 budget will wait until a referendum to be held on May 17.

Taxpayers did review the budgets for general government, the Chaplin Elementary School and capital improvements projects at the town meeting.

The municipal budget totals $ 2.18 million, with a 3.97% increase over the approved 2021- 22 budget. The budget for local education for pre-kindergarteners through sixth graders has a zero increase, with a bottom line of $ 3.9 million. And if approved, capital improvements will cost $ 292,206 next year, including some funding for the grand celebration of the town's bicentennial this year, which carries over into the new fiscal year.

With this spending plan, the mill rate is anticipated to rise two mills, from 32.50 to 34.50, although some of the attendees at the annual town meeting suggested the town tap into its healthy reserve fund rather than raise the mill rate.

One fixed part of Chaplin's budget is its share of the regional school District 11 budget for the education of seventh through 12th graders, approved at a district- wide referendum on May 3. Chaplin's levy is $ 3.09 million.

While the rest of the budget will be decided next week, voters did approve appropriations at the town meeting, including a portion of the town's share of upgrades to the England Road Bridge, a state and federal project, and the replacement of smart boards at the elementary school not to exceed $45,000.

" You have to keep up with technology, especially in this day and age," Chaplin Elementary Superintendent Kenneth Henrici said.

Residents also approved the sale of a discontinued road. Tutko Road, which has no houses on it, was discontinued in 2012. Resident Rory Smith, who owns land on both sides of the former roadway, offered the town $10,000, more of a gesture, he said, that he hoped would be used for projects " for the good of the town" rather than indicative of the value of the land. The owners of the vacant parcels abutting Smith's land and the former road had no objection to the sale as long as they will continue to have access, which Smith said, as per state law, would be maintained in future.

The matters that received the most attention during the two- and- a- half- hour meeting, however, were two ordinances. One, on adding an alternate position to the library's Board of Trustees, was mostly favored by voters, except there was discussion as to whether the position should be appointed, as written in the ordinance, or elected, as are the other trustee seats. A motion was made to change the ordinance to have the position be elected, but ultimately voters decided to approve the ordinance as written.

The second ordinance pertaining to snowstorms also caused concern because of the language. Some residents objected to a section in the ordinance because while reimbursements will be made to those who lose their mailboxes because of a hit from a snowplow, the town is not responsible for the labor of replacement. A motion was made to amend that, and while the intent of the motion may have been to remove the line that stated " the town will not repair or replace any mailbox," in actuality the motion struck the entire section, including the reimbursements. The amendment was eventually repealed.

Another motion proposed to remove a line that said " without the neighbor's permission" about snow could not be pushed across roadways onto neighboring properties, and that amendment was approved, along with the entire ordinance.

Approximately 50 people attended the town meeting.

The referendum budget vote on May 17 will be held from noon to 8 p. m. at the Chaplin fire station.

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