If Article 38 gains voter approval at Marion’s May 10 Town Meeting, there will be a maximum time limit for approved projects to spend appropriated Community Preservation funds.
After this year, every article fielded by the Community Preservation Committee, in addition to a dollar amount, will pitch a time limit to which the CPC will respond. The article is intended to ensure that CPC funds are spent on the town and in a timely manner.
If the funds are not spent within the prescribed time limit, the project applicant can go back to the CPC and apply for an extension. Should they not, the funds revert to the CPC. Town Administrator Jay McGrail told the Marion Finance Committee during its April 28 Zoom meeting that in both of the towns where he had previously worked this kind of measure was already in place.
“We do have some projects that have been sitting on the books for quite a long time, and we have no recourse to take that money back,” said McGrail.
“Some of these projects can drift and we lose track of them, and if there’s a time limit, then it’s understood between both parties,” said FinCom member Margie Baldwin.
The article’s success at the May 10 Town Meeting would not have retroactive effect, nor does it affect CPC articles to be presented for voter approval on May 10.
“The reason we didn’t include the language in the articles for this year is because, if this doesn’t pass, it would jeopardize those projects moving forward,” said McGrail. “This is more about cleaning it up for the future.”
According to FinCom Chairman Peter Winters, the bike path article will be two years old in June.
“I think this is a good idea. I don’t think it has any financial impact other than it makes things more efficient, and we don’t have lingering projects out there from 20 years ago that people no longer need or want,” said Winters.
Article 38 will come to Town Meeting with the voted recommendation of the Finance Committee, which made no recommendation on several other warrant articles reviewed by McGrail because they make no financial impact to the town.
Having voted to offer either no recommendation or approval on Articles 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43 because those articles pose no financial impact on the town, the committee completed its FY22 mission.
The next meeting of the Marion Finance Committee was not scheduled at adjournment. A special meeting was discussed between the committee, McGrail and Selectman John Waterman to examine the contractual agreement that the town has with the Old Rochester Regional School District.
According to McGrail, ORR did not have final approval from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and therefore could not get the agreement onto the May 10 Town Meeting warrant.
The primary changes proposed by ORR are changing over to a five-year rolling average assessment meant to minimize volatility faced by the tri-towns during the budget process and the establishment of a stabilization fund.
“That’s my concern, having them in charge of debt,” said Winters. “Why would we give up our voting rights?”
Waterman pointed out that anything that the ORR District does has to pass through all three towns. He said that, while Marion and Mattapoisett voted to support the rehabilitation of the high school track, Rochester did not.
“In fairness to them, they do need to put in a mechanism that gives them a little more ability to do things like borrow money or invest capital without having to get all three towns to approve,” said Waterman. “I think if it’s debt, all three towns have to approve it, but then it also has to be voted on at the polls and it has to pass by a 50 percent margin so it’s hard for them to get anything done right now.”
Waterman said that DESE has approved ORR’s proposal so DESE would have to approve any tweaks negotiated by the tri-towns so he expects any changes would take a while.
Winters thanked McGrail and Finance Director Judy Mooney for their work in preparing information for the committee.
McGrail said FinCom’s next meeting can be held in person, but a date will not be set until after Town Meeting and in concert with ORR.
Editor’s note: Due to a reporting error, the above article, as it appears in the print version of The Wanderer (and the PDF of the print edition viewable at wanderer.com) incorrectly states that Article 38 stipulates a maximum two-year time limit for approved projects to spend appropriated Community Preservation funds. The time limit for any approved article will be decided by the CPC.
Marion Finance Committee
By Mick Colageo