[Massplanners] Prop 2.5 Override - Capital/Debt Exclusion Tips

[Mariah Kurtz]

Hi all,

Has anyone here gone through the Proposition 2.5 override Capital or Debt Exclusion process to fund a project? Our town hasn't ever (or at least in living memory) had an override vote, so no one on our team has experience with this process to draw on. I've got our Select Board, Finance Committee, and Capital Planning Committee on board to propose one this fall to fund the demolition of our long-derelict mill building. They have whittled it down to two options - pay for it in a one time capital exclusion or pay for it through a 5 year debt exclusion. At our public input session residents (surprisingly) largely favored paying for it outright in one year.

They're currently trying to figure out the logistics of the necessary town meeting and ballot vote. We need at least 4 weeks to plan an STM and 35 days to schedule a ballot vote.

The least confusing option seems to be host town meeting > take the winning option and create the ballot > residents ballot vote. But some folks are concerned that if there is 35 days between votes, less people will show up for the ballot vote and it will skew the results. In a more confusing option, we could have both options presented at the STM and on the ballot, but if different ones win in each, we would need to host a second STM to reconcile the results, which seems like a huge headache.


Mariah Kurtz (she/her)

Town Planner



Town of Erving

12 East Main Street

Erving, Massachusetts 01344

Phone: (413) 422-2800 ext. 1108 | Online: www.Erving-Ma.gov<http://www.erving-ma.gov/>  | Facebook: Town of Erving<https://www.facebook.com/townoferving>

When writing or responding, please remember that the Secretary of State has determined that email is a public record, is subject to the Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66, § 10, and covered by Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521. This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or believe that you have received the communication in error, you are strictly prohibited from printing, copying, distributing, disseminating, or otherwise using this communication.

Notice:

When writing or responding, please remember that the Massachusetts Secretary of State has determined that email is a public record and subject to the Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66, and further covered by Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2521.

This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or believe that you have received the communication in error, you are strictly prohibited from printing, copying, distributing, disseminating, or otherwise using this communication. Please discard this e-mail and any attachments, and notify the sender immediately.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://masscptc.org/pipermail/massplanners_masscptc.org/attachments/20230627/abf2c7dd/attachment.htm>