Welcome. Good evening. Uh Karen, are you available online to call our role? I I am. Thank you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Um I just adding the people that I just saw. So we have Tom
Caldwell, Steve Ryan, Lorie Connelly, Jay Funling is on Zoom, you have Andrew Co there, Macy Lee, Peter Man, Julia Maxwell is on Zoom, Brian Maguire is with you, and Judy Steel is on Zoom.
You're recording. Thank you, Karen. Um, welcome back everybody um off of uh our annual town meeting and uh today we're going to prepare uh for our June special town meeting and we are fortunate to have town administrator Nick Milano and
the treasurer Joanna McCarth here to present on some of the articles that we're going to see. Um as I indicated I believe in my email um that the select board is going to be looking at some things this week and make making some final votes on u approximately three articles I believe. So, um I'm going to
wait, but uh our town administrator has some things they like to present as uh does the treasurer. So, that being said, um if uh if Mr. Milano and um Chair Madi, if you want to come to the table,
thank you for being here very much. [Music] Good evening. Sorry, I just got notification that another board of community is having some Zoom issues. I may have to jump over to that for a moment. Do you want me to help? I'm
okay. Okay. Um, thanks for the time and as always your assistance on working through these warrant articles and I'll just do my I think now routine apology apology for the workload I guess that I am somewhat
responsible for or a lot of responsible for but I I appreciate it. Um, so the June special town meeting we have um met with the select board about warrant articles. We do have a few that where have been approved for inclusion. I'll
just provide an overall update on the ones listed. Um and then we can um go in a little bit more detail on a few uh that have already been included on the warrant. Um the first one is the reserve fund appropriation for
$300,000. If as you remember from the conversations about going into the May annual town meeting that we had appropriated $700,000 in free cash to the reserve fund uh which is controlled by this committee for extraordinary unanticipated needs. Um we had left
$300,000 not appropriated. Um and that was at the select board's request. Um so we did prepare warrant article to appropriate that remaining $300,000 into the reserve fund. There isn't a a certain need for that
right now. Although, as you know, with your discussions with the school department, there may be a need for that based on the FY25 school budget. Um, if that money is not appropriated into the reserve fund, at the end of the year, it would close out and start the basis for next year's free
cash calculation. If it is appropriated to the reserve fund and not spent, then again, it would close out to free cash and start with the basis for next year's um free cash calculation. So, there isn't a lot of difference between leaving it unappropriated or moving into
the reserve fund. If it's left unappropriated, it can't be touched because then it can only be moved um by approval of the town meeting. Uh if it's moved into the warrant committee's reserve fund, then any border department of the town can request it for extraordinary unanticipated needs. We had talked about the select board about
um that appropriation. They voted to include it in the warrant. Um as tides have kind of come and gone with MBTA communities, I did include it on the select board's agenda for discussion on Wednesday night
because based on some just kind of the public comments that folks have made that there is an interest in continued work on MBTA community zoning. Um, I'm going to discuss with the select board whether it makes sense to set aside some of that $300,000 for additional planning
uh work and necessary studies related to MBTA communities. Um, so there isn't a change to that right now. I just did want to flag it as something that could come up. So, um, on the one hand, it's a straightforward warrant article. On the other hand, it may be changed on
Wednesday. So, I apologize for that. But uh needless to say, there will be a warrant article to appropriate some amount of money to the reserve fund. Right now it's 300. It may be reduced to 200. So that's one that's kind of in flux. Um the
So 100,000 of planning activities. I just am using that as an example of a round number. I haven't kind of mapped that out. It's just as kind of back of the envelope right now. Um there is at least one study that's required to increase the amount of affordable
housing that we can um require as part of this project and under the regulations the minimum the maximum you can do is 10% unless you have a economic study showing that the market will tolerate a higher um amount. So at the very least we do want to get that accomplished um with whatever is
approved. But I just put that out there as kind of in the works, not yet done. Um, light trespass. Uh, this committee is well informed about light trespass and been involved in that. The select board has not taken any action on that. It is on our agenda for discussion on
Wednesday night. Uh, we'll talk momentarily about the third one on the agenda which is about uh denial or revocation of licenses and permits for failure to pay taxes. May I ask you just a quick question about light trespass? Um, is the select board going to take a
vote on the article itself or is it just to are they just going to be vote to move it on to the committee? Typically, they would hold back on whether to support the article or not because it's is that something this committee would find helpful? Well, I I
I just didn't know. It's just a reconstituted select board. I didn't know given um the nature of the bylaw. I just didn't know if they were gonna give us some direction, but okay, that can that can wait. We can and I can be sure to bring that up on Wednesday night as well.
Thank you. So, yeah, the third one we'll talk about in a moment. The fourth one with the property tax exemptions we can speak about in a I'm just going through based on the agenda. Fifth one we can come back to. the sixth one which is alcohol on town property. Uh the select board did discuss that last week and
they seem disincclined to put that on the warrant at this time until some more work um until it's in a more final place. I will note that Richard Wells was not at our last meeting and um he's been one of the more uh vocal advocates for this. So it is on our agenda for
further discussion Wednesday, but the initial discussion was not quite ready. Let's get it right and bring it to a future town meeting um in the fall potentially. similar to light trespass. That wasn't necessarily the
conversation, but suggest that. Sure. Uh the next two are the East Milton Overlay district and the flood plane zoning articles which I know this committee has heard from the planning board on those remain and are in going forward on the warrant. The last item on the agenda is the article
related to MBTA communities. So, uh, where that stands, in case folks aren't aware, is there is a, um, an article related to MBTA communities that has been submitted by the planning board that is a zoning district, uh, and subdists with, uh, parameters that would
result in housing zoned capacity for housing units at 10% of um, our total housing unit counts, which would mean Milton is zoning for an adjacent community status. Under the regulations, U. Milton is currently deemed to be a rapid transit community, which means we
have to zone for 25% of the household count. Uh the planning board um and as folks are well aware of the public discussion around this matter um at this time has submitted an article for 10% adjacent community compliant zoning.
Um that has zoning text, zoning map, which I will distribute. Um the zoning text was with the planning board for one last read through. Uh so I will get that out to the committee. In addition, today we received um a citizens petition um
that would that had so to citizens petition for special town meeting requires 100 signatures. We received a citizens petition today that appeared to have well over 100 signatures that would cross the threshold uh but is with the town clerk's office for certification.
That petition essentially takes the last presentation um that UTIL the planning board's consultant worked on with the planning board on May 8th and puts that behind zoning language with the zoning map and districts that
were discussed by the planning board. So just if you're interested in in seeing what that looks like on May 8th util worked with the planning board on a bunch of zoning districts with unit counts. After that, UTIL went back and and came up with parameters that would
make that would translate those unit counts and those districts into zoning with the height and floor area ratio, open space requirements, and other inputs that would get you to from the districts to the unit count. On May 8th, they talked about in that detail at the planning board
meeting. You can see that on an in May 13th, they had submitted a slide deck that showed the work that they did in the intervening time period. Both of those presentations are available on the MBTA community's page on the town website. Um the May 8th planning board meeting would be available through
Milton Access TV. Um and I distributed a copy of the article late today to um the chair and to Karen. So I'm sure she'll distribute that if she hasn't um even done so already. So that's kind of the broadstrokes on MBTA communities. Is the
citizens petition another 10% proposal or 20? Oh, sorry. Good point. I'm sorry. It is a 25% that is that was like the work that was left remaining was taking getting to a 25% plan. Um the planning board had voted on Thursday May 8th to
submit it to the select board and then at their follow-up meeting on Tuesday um of last week the 13th they had voted to res to withdraw it. Um and then that essentially that article is more or less what came in as a citizens petition. I
haven't read through the zoning language. I had been working on writing it um for the two articles. Um so I can't speak to the language necessarily, but my understanding is it tracks to that those districts and to the parameters that you can see on the on
the town website. Um so all of these articles are included on the select board's discussion on uh on the select board's agenda for discussion on Wednesday. Citizens petition. there's really no action for the select board to
take. Um, a citizen's petition goes on the warrant automatically if it has 100 signatures or the requisite number of signatures. Um, so the select select board are required to include that on any warrant they issue for an upcoming meeting. So that will be on there. I'll
um distribute those materials um or any follow-up information that we get um from there. So that's kind of the high level overview of all the articles and then we can talk through them in a little bit more detail. Now um can I just jump in? You just you mentioned the select board
meeting on Wednesday. Is that true? Yes. Oh sorry. Select board and planning board are meeting jointly on Wednesday at 7:30. Um the select board has that meeting plus the warrant articles on their agenda. Um but it's a joint meeting with the planning board to talk MBTA communities and MBTA community
zoning. Um, and we'll see what what comes out of the conversation, but that's um the plan for uh Wednesday night. Um, all right. So, the first article on the list I think we should go through is acceptance of mass general laws chapter
40 section 57 and to amend the general bylaws to allow denial or revocation of licenses, permits for failure to pay municipal taxes or charges. Um, so if you go to this statute, uh, you'll find what is essentially a lengthy bylaw. Uh, we've taken the
article, uh, we've created an article out of this. So, the article would both accept this provision of Mass General laws and then insert a new section into the town bylaws that effectively allows the town to deny or revoke licenses and
permits permits for failure to pay taxes um taxes or other charges, primarily utility fees. And the language is standard and required. The one thing that really can be tweaked is the duration of failure to pay. Um, and when
that becomes effective um, and so for background, the treasurer had mentioned this treasurer Joanna McCarthy. I assume you most people maybe have met her, maybe not, but um, she had approached us suggesting maybe adding this to the kind of tools that we have to encourage
payment of taxes. Um, and you can read through the statute to see what the requirements are, but the, as I said, the bottom line is failure to pay taxes for a six-month period, um, would mean that we could deny issuing permits. There is a provision in there for that
would require us to offer payment plan. So, not necessarily somebody has to be paid in full immediately, but provide that option. Um, and there's appeals process as well, but I'll let the treasurer speak to it in further detail if there's anything that I am glossing over that's Yeah, I would just say that I think that this gives us a nice
opportunity to ensure that anything owed to the town is collected by the town or I guess another opportunity to do that. So, um, so like um um like Mr. Milano just said, the um the
the period was a little flexible. our only point of flexibility within this the development and and of this article and I thought a six-month period makes the most sense. I think we can appropriately track um a six-month
delinquent list and do so in real time um in order to provide those departments that are issuing permits and licenses with with the names and the addresses um for delinquency. And so I think that this is going to be
um good, right? I think that this is a good thing for the town and and you know it will require some kind of interdep departmental um collaboration which I think is not a problem. It will just be sort of a new process that's set up and I think the
the um the implications of this are are strong. Like I I was mentioning this to some of the staff in my office and um we do have we have instituted a returned payment fee for the town. So if we receive a check, we deposit it, it
bounces. We've done all the systems collection of that. We have to reverse that. We then notify you that the check bounced. We we do all of that and we say, you know what, that's a $25 fee to the town. Um we don't have any recourse to collect that right now. So, we could
even put this on the list, right? Um, I'm just saying that this is one yet another opportunity for for kind of collection of fees and and amounts outstanding to the town. Um, let's see. The the only other thing that I would note here is that the it the article as
written and and I guess the bylaw does kind of talk about anything that's current, right? Like a current license and a current permit. So, that's something we we will have to evaluate with those current licenses and permits and just verify that that, you know, there's no delinquencies
that we should be following up on there. Um, but I think that this is a win-win in my in my book. The only thing I would just add is while we're bringing this and it might sound like we have a massive problem on our hands, um,
we don't. We collect n upwards of 99% of taxes assessed in a year. There are certainly a handful of um very delinquent property owners and there are tools that the treasur can use to compel payment. Um but by and large we're up to date. Uh
this just provides another impetus to to encourage payment of those taxes. Um and it's you know the town assesses heavy interest for non-payment. Um, so if folks don't pay, there are already built-in penalties that exist, but this
just if you're coming in for a permit, you're you're passed due. It might uh compel you to wrap that up and uh so you can get your permit released. And one quick point of clarification, the town does not well with the town assesses that interest rate. The interest rate is not set by the the town, it's set by the
state. So the high interest rate that's assessed on unpaid taxes is not something that we have flexibility with. Um yeah, and and there is, as you note, um in the article, a a carveout for for certain licenses and permits. And you
know, the one that jumps out at me is dog licenses. We have a lot of those here. The clerk's office processes a lot of those. Um and so I'm happy to see that on this list because that would just be kind of an administrative nightmare. Um but I I think otherwise
this and marriage license I would put there too, right? So I the ones that are listed here make sense to me. The ones that are not listed here also make sense and and those are the the places where um where we'll keep records. So I does anybody
have any questions on this? Sure. Well, Brian, yeah. Is this mainly individuals or businesses or is it both? I think it's both. You have um licenses for clubs for associations dispensing food and be or beverage. Is that alcohol licenses you'd
withhold? So to be clear, that's in the exceptions list. So that would not apply to those licenses and permits. Yeah. And that list comes directly out of the statute in terms of what is accept accepted. What is not accepted, right? So we didn't pick and choose any of these.
I think the like we mentioned the only thing that we we inserted here was um the duration was the duration right of 6 months. DC think of fine. The only thing I have is
so under section three which pavement agreements. So if the agreement is breached and then a hearing is as required by applicable provisions of law. So where does this hearing occur? Does it go to the appellet tax board? Does it go to you know like the tax? I
mean, so I'm just wondering. Yeah. So the tax collector is the town tax collector, right? So that's the town of Milton, not the department of revenue. That's totally separate. But then the appellet tax board, is that part of the town or No, that's because there's a
state appellet tax board. So I'm just wondering just for clarification, which board is it? Are you talking about a board run by the town or So from the state? It's local. Sorry. Yeah, it would be local. I'm just missing the language for it. You said in section three here.
Yeah. So, I'm sorry. I'm going back to number one. So, Oh, number one. Okay, got it. Sure. Second paragraph. It refers to um a pending petition before the appellet tax board. So, that's a state board. So, I'm just wondering is
that So, they would have to get that from the state from the Commonwealth, right? Um so, they filed that potent uh petition. um for an abatement. But then um in section three says the holder be
given notice in a hearing as required by applicable provisions of law. So where is this hearing? I'm just curious because I think the statute just is general. So I think for the town you probably would want to make it specific as that's a good point.
And the first time I when I read through it, I interpreted as the hearing was before the select board, but maybe that's because we had to insert that in there and that hasn't happened yet. So that's a good catch. I will double check with town council. Okay. on that question in
terms of um the um hearing procedures and then obviously the abatement of the tax would be with the depart or the charge would be with the department that made that charge, right? So in the tax instances it would be the tax assessed by the assessor's office and the board
of assessors and then the water and sewer and trash and storm water charges would be through the water presumably through the department of public works. Um, so I would probably add that as opposed cuz the appellet tax board that's a or a pending position. I know that. So yeah, so I mean it could apply,
right? Because you're right. If they're seeking abatement and they're filing it before the appellet tax board, that would stay or like you know the abatement of any collection. Um, which is fine because that mirrors the language under section 57. But then when I was thinking of going into section three,
um, perhaps be a bit more specific about where this hearing as required by applicable of law. My read of of the um last sentence of the section one is is that if if a party has a pending
position petition before the appellet tax board in a in an unrelated matter, right? So that would come into you know if there was a a bankruptcy hearing or something like that happening um that does kind of put a stay on on some
collections. So uh that's standard and happens currently. Um but it is a good point that that yeah there's a breach in agreement right so set agreement shall be grounds for suspension revocation says license permit provided that the holder was
giving notice you have to provide notice um I don't know what time period you want to give notice of when they need to and then a hearing required by yeah so you want to be I would suggest being specific because this is the general
language which under section 57 which confers upon the town the authority to do this. So I would incorporate the town of Milton's procedures in that section. So I now I've had a moment to refresh my memory. So the reason because it keeps
referring to the licensing authority um which is previously defi defined as um a board or department that issues issues licenses. So in that hearing process, the hearing is with the licensing authority rather than with the
collector. So that's who the hearing is in front of. Um but perhaps a little bit more clarity in terms of that. Yeah, given there isn't a hearing um before the licensing authority or something, you may want to just change that. Don Don, can I ask a question? Oh,
absolutely, Julia. I'm sorry. Okay. Um, so just to make sure I'm understanding, I believe this is what you said. Um, there is currently no method of um collecting
overdue taxes. Is that correct? No. in incorrect. Oh, okay. Please. No. Yeah. So, we do have methods by which we collect delinquent taxes. Um I I think the the um most significant one is that
the town is authorized to put a lean on the deed of the property. Uh we communicate that with the taxpayer. Ultimately, if if that balance goes unpaid, I have the authority to foreclose on that property. Okay. So this is just um adding an additional
tool in the toolbox and is not a direct way to go after people but sort of puts up a roadblock should they be coming to the town for other reasons. Correct. Yep. And um you know with with respect to
real estate taxes in particular um you know we operate on a fiscal year. You're not delinquent and we don't demand that's the official term, right? So we don't demand that final payment until the end of the fiscal year. We're actually my my office is sort of
currently working on that now. Um so in essence, while taxes are due every 3 months on a regular, you know, calendar basis, um you you pay interest if you don't hit those dates with the amounts that you are owed on those particular
dates. you are not demanded to pay that until after um the the final date. Right? So that's happening now for fiscal year 25. This would um essentially allow us to um you know
deny, suspend or or revoke a license or permit for anybody who's 6 months or more delinquent. Okay. And then um so effectively it collects faster. Oh yeah. Mhm.
Sorry, J. No, no, no, that's fine. Um, so effectively it would be an inability to collect them faster, right? Okay, gotcha. And then my last question is, um, I know you said this isn't really a massive problem. Um, are you able to
quantify like what I I don't know how how big of a problem or small of a problem it is exactly? Uh, I I um so like I said, I think I would um
because we have the ability to put leans on properties. if I excluded the the properties for which we we have a lean on record at the the Norfol County Registry of Deeds for title there. I I
would put that number. Um I don't know. I don't I don't have it on on the top of my head, but that's okay. Thank you. Yeah, how about I come back to you on that? I don't want to guesstimate because that would be bad. be wildly off. You could just email
it. Sure, we can email it to you. Yeah, I can distribute it. But I do think what's interesting with this is that there are certain taxes for which there is no recourse. I think a good example of that is personal property. Um and and the only recourse the town has for
delinquent and uncollected personal property taxes is to file a case in small claims court which is just something that is ownorous for the town and expensive and you know we we don't have a lot of these balances nor do they get to a magnitude where it would
likely be something that we'd we'd want to consider the time and effort of doing. However, should that business apply for a license or permit, this is one easy way of saying like, let's get that um let's get that balance chewed up. Okay. Andrew, I'm sorry. Um you I
just want to make sure I heard you correctly that this there's a method in here to expedite the collection of taxes. Yeah. So, no, not really. I guess what I was saying is if you're delinquent a full
calendar a full fiscal year of taxes and um you we do not have an ability other than charging interest to demand payment and then put a lean on on that property until the end of that fiscal year. But let's say the property owner is
delinquent for 6 months, their name would get added to this list and should they find themselves in a position of wanting to take out a license or or a building permit or something, they would be not able to do so and and as such
probably show up in my office with with some way to settle that. Um but other property such as um personal property, you said you still don't have a method of placing a lean. All it is is a
handcuff done. No. No. Correct. So So you know the handcuff on the real estate is that you you would ultimately have a lean on your property. Um personal property like I said there's no ability to do that. Um again those balances are not sign that altogether significant. I
would say uh motor vehicle excise tax the the way to ultimately collect on that as potentially a lot of us have that way included okay that's the but it doesn't actually other than inhibiting
when they need the a new license there's still no no okay uh I just want to make sure I understand it's a tool in the tool box this isn't going to solution anything um I guess the the real question is since the licensing ing
board still has the right may deny, not will deny. Um, why even bother having a 60-day limit or a six-month delinquency period? Why not zero? I mean, so it's
funny you say that cuz uh we in in discussions around this initially, I was like, you know, your your unfriendly tax collector here says why not zero get these this money in the door. Um, administratively that's a little tricky, right? We'd need to maintain a current
list that would be available to all the departments on a call it daily basis whether someone pays on in yesterday, today, tomorrow. I I'd rather do that on a six-month rolling basis. Uh it it just feels like that would be more representative of of
um you know a true delinquent um charge that could be capitalized using this. But that would I think the only thing holding us back is the administrative and I'd suggest zero and
um zero day and whether or not you're able to update it at 6 month intervals whatever the frequency less than 6 months or whatever it is um you'd still have an opportunity to collect earlier than you would otherwise. Yeah. And then
the other reason to do um something like that or is that I mean it still gives you discretion. Um um the other thing you might look at is
u rather than focus on necessarily 6 months but large dollars. So if somebody has a huge outstanding um tax on property or anything uh that is a threshold at which cuz you
don't want to strangle somebody just cuz they have a forgot to pay a excise tax on their car that's $60 from last year. Yeah. The registry of motor vehicles will ultimately strangle you on that. No, but but but the point is I mean this is really not No, I understand what
you're saying. The intent is not to necessarily ensnare small dollar amount u fugitives uh but uh but really to to ensure that the real dollars material dollars that the town needs to collect. Yeah. I mean I think
that that's the way that I operate generally, right? that that with with a focus being on making sure our administrative cost is is taking is borne by those that are are going to collect the town the most money it is
owed. Right? That said, I do think that there are instances where we have I mean I I I mentioned the $25 returned payment fee, right? I mentioned the personal property tax. We have boat excise tax. It's like these things in order to to um
administratively chase those down it it's um it would take time and effort cost right so this would be a bit of a quick win in those areas as well but I do understand what you're saying I I mean I I hope that this is not the case that those those properties with
significant arars don't have an open building permit that I'm not aware of. I think we're pretty good on on some of of those of certain magnitude, right? But um but I think I think you're right. If
we if we focus on that and even if the list is sorted by that, that would that would be because by artificially introducing a six-month window, it's the same thing as a property tax not being in a rears until the next
fiscal year. Um, and so you're creating these fake windows in time in which like somebody may get their building permit or whatever. And really what you want to do is to chase down the people large
amounts where it's worth your time to do that. And I think the way to do that is keep the discretion that you have. um give the licensing board discretion and also
um figure out a window or a dollar amount that it it's worth your effort and time to to chase administratively. I mean in spirit I I really like this. Um I think um having a six or zero month period a
zero month like zero period gives you the same flexibility. If you want to report on it six months at a time, fine. But yeah, if you can do it better or more frequently or also focus on large dollar amounts, I I think you get the best of both worlds.
I other thing is can I is that go quarterly because since taxes at least real estate taxes are built quarterly, you can do it a three-month period. So it doesn't and then I'm just thinking what else does quarterly? Uh water, right? Sewer. I think storm water is
what every every year. every year. Um, so you so you can follow your bills. If somebody comes in, didn't make their tax payments or and or their water and sewer, they're applying for a building permit, you can deny them just on that 3 months. So it makes the chase make
shorter period. Um, right. So that's I mean I'm just saying it just follows the billing of what we Yeah, I think it's a little nuanced because the I um this is something I was not aware until I got this got in the seat. But while while we bill um in three month cycles for water
and sewer, there are three different sections in town for which we we bill, right? So our our billing for water and sewer is happening every month. It's just, you know, group A gets it every 3 months, then group B gets it the next three months. So, it's not always on the
same calendar rotation. But I I understand what you're saying and and you know, I'm I'm happy with to be able to do something that wouldn't constrict us to do something administratively um on a more frequent basis would be difficult to maintain. Sure. And but yet
I'm happy to respond to any inquiry from any licensing authority uh at any time on that day, right? Should it be something of concern? Um we just have one question from Judy
online. Judy, uh thank you. So Joanne um do you do you know like the breakdown would might be between business and residential
aras no short answer um longer answer is I think each of you know for for res for real estate tax I I'm assuming that be a real estate and commercial delineation for personal property tax. That's mainly business
motor vehicle excise tax could be either um in in which form the the tax is assessed or by who's the car owner. Um so I don't know that off the top of my head. I I could um I could put together
that information though if you're looking for it. Um just trying to sort out whether you of course there's more residential in our town than there is business. It's pretty well been observed that way. Um so would you think that on a special
permit um portion that those come more from a business than a residential um property? I so I would say there's a bunch of different categories there, right? So we have building
permits. Those could either be homes or businesses. Um we have special licenses. I I don't I don't I'm not going to be able to answer that for you, but I'm guessing we could figure out because I thought it was mentioned about
special permits, not just permits of other sorts. No, that would be a land use question under 4A. It wouldn't that would not to my knowledge follow under this necessarily that you can't seek a special permit without being up to date
on your taxes. This is referring to building permits and other um licenses and permits along those lines rather than the land use piece of it. Like what comes to mind handily is the um new restaurant at the fruit center.
um you know they were seeking special permits. Now I understand they're going to be um a less e in a commercial property. So that would be up to the owners of the fruit center. Um how would that play
out? So if the firm center was delinquent in their real estate taxes to um the town of Milton and then one of their lees needed a special
permit to um process their business. Would the town then um deny that permit to the lei based on the lesser not paying their taxes? I know that
sounds special. No, I get you. I don't I don't believe the intention and I will confirm with town council. I don't believe special permits and other land use regulatory matters are subject to this. um as this refers specifically to
licenses and licensing authorities um but we will um confirm that and get back to you. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, seeing no other
questions, thank you very much for um for helping us out with that. Um want to move on to the next? Sure. Why don't we Thank you. Jump to the elderly and stable taxation fund. So this is accept the provision of generalized chapter
63D. Um, so what this would allow is for on for the town to collect donations for elderly and disabled um taxation aid fund um primarily through a check off on property tax bills and other bills um
but other locations as well. Um and the money would be under the control of a new uh committee uh set up under the statute which is um called an elderly and disabled taxation fund and elderly um disabled taxation aid
committee which has a five member uh group, the chair of the board of assessors, the tax collector/treasurer and three residents. um that committee would be charged with identifying um the rules and guidelines
for which that those donations would then be used to support um people determined to be eligible uh for assistance. So um donations to the town held under the control of a taxation aid committee which would then
distribute and dispense funding uh to support um those who qualify according to the rules set up by that committee. Uh this has been something that's been put into place in in a number of other cities and towns for um differing amounts of years. Um couple that come to
mind are Needam, Hangingham, Denim. Um and I been poking around, you know, needed was bring is bringing in between 15,000 and 20,000 a year. Hangingham looks to be closer to like 45,000 a year. Bedford just did it um a couple of
years ago and they're like 3 to 5,000 a year. So, um, different communities are having different levels of, um, experience with it. Um, and the intention is to provide an opportunity for folks to, um, donate if they would like to and for those donations to then
be used to support those who apply and qualify for it. Um, again, something that the treasurer had mentioned as something that we should look at. Um, so we're looking to bring this to town meeting to put it. Um, I think that just to add some
context uh to my initial conversations about this, we do I was I this came across my desk as I was noticing an opportunity in our motor vehicle excise tax bill preparation cycle and reading
through the the Department of Revenue guidelines on on, you know, what the exact things are that need to be on a motor vehicle excise tax bill. Do we have all of that information, etc. I was like, what's this local funds check off?
Um, and there were two items on there uh that referred to both chapter 60 section 3C and chapter 60 section 3D. SAP chapter 60 section 3C I presume has already come before this committee because uh it it has been passed already
by town meeting um prior to my uh you know starting in this office and that is allowing the town to um to voluntarily donate on their motor vehicle excise tax bills to scholarship and education funds and we currently use that I don't know
if this is ringing a bell for everybody but in their motor in your motor vehicle excise tax bill. Um there's a for the um first commitment and so I'll back up a little bit. The first commitment is if you own a car on January 1st, you get a motor vehicle tax bill in that first
commitment. If you buy a car February 2nd, you might get it in the second commitment. We have about seven or eight commitments in tax bill cycles for motor vehicles a year. But we generally just do this in the first one because it we we do take an opportunity to include a
little um uh third of a paper slip about MPACE Milton. Um I'm going to get this wrong. It's it's um that's bad. But but it's a it's a per it's
performing arts arts community culture, right? But it's it's we're going to get there. We get there. Uh it's a it's a fund that's managed by the um by members of Milton Public Schools to um send
students on pretty great field trips and tickets. I think it's like fourth grade Shakespeare performances have been funded by MPACE over the last of you know 10 years or so. So there is an amount that's typically collected generally right you know um from the
proceeds of those donations that um we earmark specifically for that fund. This would be something similar. Um and like um we just referenced the the ability to do this under Mass General laws is
specifically for um lowincome elderly or disabled persons. So the establishment of the committee would have to put some you know would obviously generate the parameters around that and I imagine this is this is not the biggest amount
of am you know money collected but at the same time I I I want to I keep bringing this to um town administrator's attention because particularly I would say in the um in the runup to to the override
vote for the town. There there I personally and professionally received some interest from folks around town who were interested in helping out the certain members of the community who might find um the the increase in taxes
unsustainable. Um, and and I think that this we should be taking advantage of every opportunity we have to give people the ability to contribute in in such a way that offsets um offsets their neighbors tax burden if
they can't afford it. So I think that this is a again something that would bring in you know who knows how much but um I imagine this would be something that would float to zero at the end of the year right we distribute it all um and then we do it
again anyone have any question so the donation would not be a charitable donation it would be a donation to the town that would then distribute it
for a different to tax deduction. You mean in terms of the don uh it is a question I've seen that was raised in other communities. I didn't find the answer. I would I would lean towards likely not um in that case. Yeah. There's no coding this I think we'd want
to be really specific about it. I mean, this would be an instance that should should, you know, this move forward and and receive town meeting approval, I'd want to, you know, publicize this to the mountain tops, right? And as as a way to
um to kind of gather the most donations that we could, but be really specific about things like that, too. So that if you're writing a check to the town of Milton, although presumably that could could be a a deductible um amount for
your own personal taxes, I don't know. Like you Judy has her hand up. We can't make that presumption for anybody. So yeah, Macy and then Judy online. Just a quick question. Um so once this committee is established um and appointed by the
select board, do um the intended community um that would benefit from this fund would they apply for aid? Um would they be is there a whole screening application process that
the committee would establish? So there are so the benefit of um have other communities having done this you know we can steal and and copy whether it's the guidelines or the application forms but yes we would envision once the
guidelines are evaluated and put into place an application to go along with it um that would set up those parameters pretty clearly and we've done um as through the senior means tested property tax exemption there's been other ways where we've tried to find ways that are
less burdensome administratively to to find qualifying uh folks so that it's not yet another form and yet another application and yet new information to fill. But I think that would be the work of the committee to kind of map that out and then um as Joanna mentioned share
that news wildly and hopefully generate both interest from donors and and those who are in need. Um and would that um announcement of this established fund and commu and committee will this be communicated in various forms and in
different languages? Because I'm just thinking of the community in which we live if you're just broadcasting the availability of this fund in English there. I mean you're neglecting a big part of the community. Um and especially if your other um intended communities are disabled, we'll be available in
Braille or any other um types of disability where you know residents who who are qualified as disabled will be able to understand that there's this fund available to them. Yeah. So I guess the committee is tasked. So, I hope that this future committee will take all this
in consideration and not just consider the English speaking population of Milton. Um, because the elderly, you know, there's different languages here, which is what makes us town so great. Um, and also the various disabilities um that our residents have. Yes. Yes. Um,
you're talking to a potential member of that comm or a member of that committee and I I feel very strongly in in alignment with your thinking on that. So, um, my hope would be that we get as much money as possible into a fun. Of
course. Uh, Judy, then Andrew. Uh, thank you. So, my question um goes to this. What department in town will administer this process such
as the assessor's office um for like the senior circuit breaker that's going to be online for next not 26 tax year but 27 tax year um the COA for the workoff program. What department do you foresee
or what department are other towns using for the administration of this? My my thought there would be the administration is the committee. Um or I guess the decision-m is is happening at the committee. the administration of it
would be implementing the KI committee's decision by way of abatement um to real real estate tax bills and my office doing the actual billing and collecting of those bills. So, I would imagine the departments and it makes
sense that the chair of the board of the assessors and and the um town treasurer sit on this committee because I I do think that it impacts our two departments because that would be how you'd affectuate the the um the relief the taxation aid itself.
Nick, do you know offhand um what other towns are doing in that regard? I I asked this question because I think if we um
are giving an abatement or um let's just say a hand up to help pay taxes that it should be administered by actual town employee departments rather than appointed
committees. That's just my personal or how I view it, which could be seen as personal as I was saying, but I would feel more comfortable um allotting money for taxation relief
via one of our town employee departments. Do you know, Nick, how it's done elsewhere? I've seen a mix in terms of whether that support staff is in the
treasur collector office or in the assessor's office or even um the town manager town administrator's office. So to to uh Jonah's point, the committee under the law is required to set the guidelines as to who's eligible. Um and
they would also be required to figure out if they have $20,000 how that aid would be dispersed. um whether it's equally or or in different tranches. So there are um decision points for the committee
under the law that they there has to be in terms of a paperwork um receiving applications and making sure applications are complete. Again, that is a place where staff support will be necessary and uh between the treasur's office and the assessor's
office um will uh will ensure that there's employees who are responsible for that. to your point and and and to further where I'm at is that an applicant will be um submitting rather
sensitive personal data to um enjoy this gift to their tax relief. Um, and now we come down to if I turn in something at the town hall to Joanna's
office or the assessor's office or whoever else I feel as though that my data is now protected to a committee. I don't feel that um the data will have that same
sense of security. Do I make sense? I understand what you're you're saying. I think the committee would be tasked less with looking at individual applications and tasked more with setting the overall parameters by which the program and um eligibility would be then determined.
Okay, perfect. Thank you for um clarifying. Thank you. Uh Andrew then Macy. Yeah, I had some questions and comments. One, I have a really hard time finding much of any information about EMPACE. Um, I know
it's a Milton Partnership for Arts and Cultural Enrichment Partnership. Um, it's not listed under any of the boards or committees. I can't find it um as a registered
501c3. So, I doubt anything to it would be taxdeductible even if you were able to do that on a pass through basis. Um, who's on that committee now? I mean, the last thing I found was from 2011. And
are you have you did you just look at the school website? Because I I do think it's run and managed at the schools. At the school. Okay. Cuz I was looking at the town website. No, no, it's Yeah. No, it's it's a it's a committee. Okay. That's overseen by the school district.
I think parents are involved in it, too. Yes. Parents and staff are involved. I can get you that information though. No, it's more copied down their messages often and No, it's more so that if if you are asking taxpayers to uh
potentially donate to it and um one, if there's an opportunity to make it tax deductible and make a write off, then it's great. And two, if it is a 501c3 and uh eligible for tax um
um tax write offs and you are not if the town is a pass through agent for that then it's sort of complicating but if you can collect it great um but more if I information should be
easily found somewhere through a web search cuz I'm digging fairly hard and can't find anything through a Google search. Um, so um if if I can't I I understand what
you're saying and I think that point well taken. I I do I do believe that the information that we have regarding MPACE and making donations to that as a and I'm using air quotes because it's it it's in the statute like this an
education fund is um all that information is sits on our UNIPE uh site on a Yep. I see. Yeah. So you you might be able to find it there if you if you follow the links in order to pay your real estate tax bill. you'll be able to also make an MPACE donation at
any time. Um, so you click on that, you'll find some information there, but it's bare bones for sure. Um, like I said that there there is a a buck slip, you know, insert in the mailer um for that first commitment of 18 or 19,000
vehicles that we sent out bills for. Mhm. And um you know I think I would say the last two years roughly we collected about $10,000 each fiscal year. Um, and it's great and
I think it's snowable, but you should, and you know, I I I think that this specifically was brought to town meeting. Um, and and you know, again, specifically, we would be we would be going for a a conversation around a a
taxation aid fund. Mhm. Um and I think the the only other ability we have to add a check and they're they're called in the statutes check off box is for um scholarship funds. That would be the only other a they're
called voluntary check offs. Yeah, I'm looking at the school site and it's not it's not on the school site either. not easy Facebook page and I I know that also but I know that you know so in principle the biggest thing I have
a problem with is sending money into blackbox um and like I I honestly believe this is a great program and um but if I were to donate to it personally
I'd want to know who's administering it are there any real fiscal controls behind behind it. Um, and if it's tax tax deductible, it would drive my decision on how much more I would give
if it were not. Um, and so, uh, if this is something as a town from a tax department standpoint is like publicly um, advocating and giving advantageous pref preference from a donation
standpoint. I think there should be a lot more transparency behind it. And not to say that it's not transparent, but there's just no footprint whatsoever. Um, there would be a lot more 501c3 that would, you know, but that's not really
the point. Yeah, it's not. And and so whether it's a school site site or the town website should have it on there. um and the UNIPE be much more um descriptive about what it is and what
controls it has. You have a question. I just have one last thing. Um I think there's a typo or missing words. Um it says um the last line to be appointed by the select board instead of appointed select board. So
you just want to insert by the I'm assuming right. Good catch. A couple of typos in the annual town meeting that have gone unremarked upon. So I'm You can never edit homework. I can I never catch my own typos. I always
have send it around. Ruined my day, Nick. Not in your stuff. Oh yes, I know what to talk about. That was I'm the same way amazing. Oh, I can't. I'm like, it's perfect. Go ahead. Yeah, I don't want to look at it
anymore. Um, does Brian, you have a question as to this article? You have a question of comment. The way I read the law is you can't spend it on anything other than like real estate taxes. Like, you can't do other things, but you can invest it if you want. You don't have to
spend it all. Um, but when you appropriate it and you make a decision on how you're going to spend it, does it come back before the law committee or the select board in No. In this case, no. It would be a reduction and I believe um how I
saw a few communities have set it up is on the fourth quarter tax bill, it would reduce their owed amount on the fourth quarter bill. So it wouldn't be an expenditure, it wouldn't be a payment to an individual. It would be a reduction
on what they owe in that fourth quarter bill. Um and it wouldn't necessarily the committee would be the committee that's uh and they make the final decisions. I um I guess I would just add that I I have always envisioned it as and and I
hadn't thought any differently that this committee would establish the guidelines and parameters by which the amounts collected would be allocated um but not peruse individual applicants
information. Right. leave that to perhaps the assessor's department or my department to do so. Um and and you know I would say that again other members of the committee are
not sitting right here but I would also suggest that the the the application be the least amount of burden for our our residents to to make application to to be a part of this pool
and um that it it would be wonderful to distribute these amounts as broadly as we could. So I think would would you know I think the committee could could and should have meetings to determine
that and talk about that as a policy and and set that and advertise that, right? So that you know if the committee decides that every applicant would share in every you know every applicant that is eligible would receive at least a
dollar of tax relief, right? then every applicant should expect to receive at least that dollar, right? I don't know if like I'm making that up, but um hopefully it' be more. Yes. Exactly. Exactly. And and just just I think procedurally for our practices because
we bill semiannually and we have two quarter remittances on that bill. We would probably do it such that it would be a reduction in in an equivalent reduction both both in the third quarter tax bill and in the fourth quarter tax bill. We do that with most exemptions and and otherwise
it it's like I'm trying to think what the other thing was like the state the other thing what the state in your veins right it's tough to communicate it to people they a lot of people don't know it's not out there they don't take advantage of it and they should that's
that was a problem yeah that for sure I I would say I mean I Next on the list is talking about the exemptions that the town offers too. I think that as a whole I the philosophy behind some of this stuff from my
vantage point was to be really loud about this to the community in every way we possibly could be so that um the options for our taxpayers are out there and um and we are able to provide the resources about how how to make
application to to use them and take advantage of them. Um I you know agree I can't do that alone but we need to do we need to figure out a way in order to do that as a town and as a community. I think quick.
Okay. Any other questions? Let's move on to the exemption. Sure. Um so the article I sent out is to um accept three provisions of mass general laws chapter 59 clause five or section
five um there are three exemptions included for adoption here. So clause um 17e, clause 22 I and clause 41D.
Um these are all related to exemptions that are offered in Milton um and across all cities and towns are statutory property tax exemptions that um cities and towns are required to offer. Um the ones covered by clause 17 um are for the
elderly or survivors minor right here surviving spouses and minors. So um there's additional information online about who qualifies for that. $175 exemption. Um, typically if you're
a senior, um, you'll qualify under 41, uh, which is a separate exemption, but this is available and it's it and Milton has only been, um, offered in a few hundred in the past few years. So, um, three to four folks have qualified for
it. Sorry, just to take a step back. So what broadly the article would do is we would accept these three provisions to allow each of these exemptions I'm about to describe to increase annually um in accordance with the consumer price index as determined by the department of
revenue. So these exemptions have been set at a flat amount um in the law and now the law does the law legislature doesn't go in and change these regularly. Um these under clause 17 have been $175 for as as far as back as I can
find. Um clause 22 has are for veterans. So there's has several different um exemptions under that. Again, those are flat rates that have been set for some time. And the third one is for um the elderly, and that's a $500 exemption, which again has been set for some time. So what this article would do would
allow each of these to be increased annually in accordance with the consumer price index. that's determined um by the Department of Revenue. And over the past six years, um the CPI has gone up about 3.9% which is not too far off from our
single family tax bill, which goes up about 3 and a half% a year. Uh the obvious difference there being is we did just have an override, so that 3 and 12% is going to be higher now. Um so they do correlate uh pretty well together. um
trying to solve the problem of that these exemptions are set at a flat number and don't adjust. Prop two and a half goes up every year. We all know tax bills are increasing, but the exemptions have stayed the same. I'll return to the veterans benefits veterans and veterans in a moment. Um there are income requirements
as well to be to qualify for these. Um under clause 41, which is a $500 exemption, um it's for those age 70 or older who um qualify for income purposes. Um that's a $500 exemption and
we have it's about $10,000 a year uh that have been exempted in Milton. Um I'm just trying to pull up the data here. Um and just to add to that, I think it's also an income and an asset qualification for both the elderly. Um the veterans uh benefits is one where
there have been more. It's close to the range between 60 to $70,000 um per year depending on the exemption. Um but again these would all be um allowed to increase annually per the CPI CPI and
that is announced regularly on a regular basis by the department of revenue what that annual adjustment will be. Um and I didn't before the meeting tonight but I I will distribute um some backup packets about the various exemptions. If you qualify for one of these exemptions
that's the exemption you get. So under um MGL chapter 59, you you would get the one that is the highest. Um you can't package these exemptions together. Um and that's the big picture overview.
There's any specific questions I can work to address them. Does that mean when you can't package them, is that just related to this article or what about the CD needs? If you get that, you can't get any of these. They would interplay with each
other because some of those deter are based on what your tax liability is. So you get a $1,000 exemption because you have a 100% service connected disability. Now your tax liability will go down by $1,000. That might pull you out of eligibility for a different
program. So um they do interact um with each other. Ron, is that per property? Because if you have two owners and one qualifies for one, then someone qualifies for another one. Uh, it's the Good question.
I know. I read that. I made a note of it. I don't have the believe it's tax bill basis for the property. Yeah. Doesn't it have to be your your uh your primary doicile? Oh, yeah. So, you in the event of holding two homes? Yes.
primary, but also the exemptions are for um the property tax bill. So there's one per household. And I I'll just the other thing I'll note is that for these um exemptions, the state does reimburse us for these. Um so the milit the veterans
ones are reimbursed not quite at 100%. depending on the exemption, they're reimbured at different percentages. Um the elder the senior one which is clause 41 um that's reimbured at 100%. And clause 17 anybody eligible for those we
are reimbured at 100%. Um that said if we accept these provisions to allow it to adjust our reimbursement will stay at the state exemption amount. So say in 3 years the clause 41 elderly exemption is
$600 for every individual that has that the town will only get $500 from the state. So we'll still get the um reimbursement but only for the base amount um going forward. Nope. Any other questions about 59 section 5? Uh just quick question. Um,
cumulatively this year, what does this look like? Uh, it's about all of the exemptions are, it's a little hard to put a number on. So, the reason is because clause 41A allows you to defer your taxes. So, if you're if you're qualifying on income and you're up to
date, you're allowed to just not pay your taxes at a 4% interest. So, that's usually the biggest amount. um it's generally around 120 to $140,000 in exemptions per year once you carve out
um that larger a pool of the deferrals. So about roughly 140,000 of which uh close to 100% is today reimbursed or with the exception of the
uh second provision clause 21, right? Uh ex 17 or so they're all reimbursed the veterans but not at 100%. Okay. Not at 100. all the clause 22 ones, but that I'm just trying to get a rough sense of
what that deficit going forward. Sure. On an annual basis looks like. Okay. For example, last year we paid out about $67,000 in veterans tax exemptions and of that $47,000 was
reimbured. So that deficit will grow going forward if this is approved. Okay. Anything else? 695. Okay. Are you all set? Those are the articles I had. Obviously, um I'll
distribute some additional materials as backup on these. I'll follow up um with I can send the MT community stuff out. The rest of the information on that is on the town website. I know I think you've already coordinated with the planning board potentially. Um and if I
do get a contact person for the uh citizens petition, I will let you know. Yes, that would be great if someone would be willing to come down. Sure. And you're planning for that for next or two weeks. Uh planning board uh first week of June. Okay. All right. Um is what
they said. Okay. Yeah. Uh, Julia. Tom, this is Jay. Jay. Whoops. Sounds like Julia with B. Okay. I want to circle back to the first thing on the agenda, the reserve fund.
Um, Mr. Milano, I know that you love it when we you have last minute second guessing of your financial decisions. So, here you go. Um, so thinking about this $300,000 for the reserve fund going back in time a couple months, there was a million in free cash
that was going to be going to the special education stabilization account. And then with the uh school issue this year, the decision was made to put instead of that million dollars into this, sorry, I should say if the override pass, which it did.
So, a million dollar was going to go to the special ed stabilization account. Then it was decided a month or two ago that instead of that million dollar going there, $700,000 would go to the reserve fund with the intent of that will stabilize the schools for this
year, which left $300,000 left over. And that's the 300,000 we're talking about. Given all that, uh, it it's probably too late to do anything about it, but was there any thought given to taking some percentage of that 300,000 and seeding the newly created special ed
stabilization account with some money? Thank you. So, um, no, I don't think so at this time. I think our preference at this point is to I introduced the meeting with and I
don't know if if you were there for that. So um $300,000 recommended go into the reserve fund. I still believe that's the best place for it um to close out this year and it starts us off next year if it's not if it's not used um with a
good head start on free cash. um the school committee could if it doesn't need as much money as it expects it could itself put funding into that special education reserve fund and they they're able to do that moving forward now um that's an option for for them and
then I as I explained at the beginning of the meeting I I need to talk to the select board about this on Wednesday night because uh depending on what happens at town meeting I sense there is significant interest in continuing to work on mutate communities um further which will
require additional financial resources. So um I intend to inquire with the board about potentially taking some of that money and setting it aside for additional planning work around debut communities depending on the direction
uh the board of planning board want to go. We're having a joint meeting on Wednesday. Um so that may even be subject to change. So where I stand today is, you know, mostly expecting most of that to go to the reserve fund and if and maybe some to some additional um
dedicated planning monies around WT communities. Okay, thanks. Thanks for your question, Jay. Julia, can Yeah, thanks. Um, so I'm still catching up on the select board
meeting from last week, so forgive me if this um was covered there, but um I thought I heard them talk about potentially not having this um June special town meeting at all, but it sounds like if
um this citizen's petition has been put forward, does that mean the special town meeting will definitely happen? No. Good good observation and good question. Uh yes, that was discussed um as a potential option
um particularly focused on you know a pathway forward on MBTA communities. So I would say more to come on that Wednesday um whether they pick that conversation up in terms of whether to have the town meeting at all. the citizen petition under the law is now
required to be inserted in the warrant for the next special town meeting. Um and if if the select board does not have one on June um 16th then whatever special town meeting comes next that
that article remains required to be inserted in that warrant. So it's it's not a requirement to have the town meeting. requirement that the next town meeting have that article on the warrant. I see. And then um in terms of
public hearings that are required for different kinds of articles from different places, am I correct in understanding that a citizen's petition does not require a public hearing? Uh no. any uh proposed change to zoning
under chapter 4A requires a public hearing in the provisions in the process for adopting um zoning changes is laid out in chapter 48 section 5 and it and it requires that all zoning articles have a public hearing.
Um there's a time limit by which the planning board must have the public hearing, but and then the planning board must have the public hearing before the town meeting and issue a report to town meeting. Um the public hearing could theoretically happen the same day as town meeting, but it has to happen prior
to the town meeting taking action on the article. And does the planning board have a choice in whether or not they uh hold this public hearing? Yes, I think chapter 48 says 60 days or
65 days. Um, so if the if the public hearing on the citizens petition is not held before June 16th, which would be
with which is possible because they have 60 days to have it. What happens procedurally at town meeting with this citizens petition? That's a good town council question. Yes. So said public hearing shall be
held within 65 days after the proposed zoning ordinance or bylaw submitted to the planning board. So the only requirement I see is that the public hearing has to happen within 65 days. um it won't truly be submitted to them until the signatures are certified um
either tomorrow or Wednesday, which would start that calendar calculation. I'd have to ask that question of town council. Um I assume Okay. I if Yeah, I would have to confer with town council
and circle back with you. Okay. And then um you said a report needs to be produced by the planning board after the public hearing. It can be verbal. It could be the planning board reporting to town meeting its position on an article. It does not have to be a written report, but they
have to report to the town meeting on the article. And if the public hearing was held, say tomorrow, when are they um sorry, when are they required to issue the report?
There's not a timeline necessarily. It just they just have to have had their public hearing and then be available and able to report to the town meeting. So they could just be asked at town meeting to verbally give their report.
Correct. Could they refuse to do that? Again, a town council question. I don't believe so. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions about anything we've discussed here or any other articles?
I actually I just I'm sorry to Julia's questions. I I just do want to point out that if so town council has a memo on the MBTA communities web page that
outlines because under 485 there is a 2-year bar on an article coming a zoning article returning to town meeting for action. um if it is not different from what went before unless it has the planning board's approval. So if the
planning board does not support the citizens petition, it's subject matter is MBTA communities. We did have an article that was um not approved by the town in 2023, early 24. Um so that
2-year bar is in place. Um, however, the question is, is what this citizen petition has different from 2023? How different does it need to be or not for that to happen? And um, town council's
memo lays out the case law around this and just in more detail. So, I just it's been um something that I know has been raised, so I wanted to flag it. Um, there is not clarity from the courts on what different means. Um, so it might be
one of those vagaries um that we need to deal with, but I just wanted to put it out there. In term in addition to the other section five requirements that Julia just asked about, there's also that one which is um how does that 2-year bar um interplay
with the citizens petition? Um there is an element under MBTA communities with half of the units capacity needing to be in the transit area that the law look similar to an extent. So the question of similar versus different um I'll leave to others to make that ruling, but I
just wanted to bring it up as um another another requirement under section 5 that you may hear more about in the coming weeks. And and sorry, Nick. Who? So, and who determines whether or not it is different enough? Is that the planning board? Uh, again, I would have to defer
to town council on that. And it's on his radar to do some homework on assuming, you know, that the signatures are certified a and b that the town meeting goes forward. Okay. Thank you. Sure.
Brian, I have a question. Yeah, of course. I want to go back to the uh 300,000. Yes. So they they want to put this into free cash. It's in free cash today. Sitting in unused free cash, right? Unused so that they can draw on it before the end
of the year. Who's they? The select board or so this question. Yeah. Just to trace back in time, um, as the school committee is working through fiscal 25 challenges, they had come to the select board requesting that a million dollars
of free cash that we had earmarked for the new special education reserve fund be instead appropriated to the reserve fund for potential use by the school department in fiscal 25. Um, we had a joint meeting with the school committee and the select board.
Maybe I'm getting my timelines worked, but yes, they came and made that request. Representatives from the school committee select board agreed on a $700,000 appropriation, which is the one that went in the Maytown meeting. So now the question is what to do with that last 300,000. And what the select board
had agreed at the time was let's buy some time, see where things stand in in a month, two months, and then make a decision about it. Based on their projections and the supplemental budget that has been working its way through the legislature,
the schools feel comfortable with the $700,000 that have been set aside that they should be able to work within that amount. So, they're not necessarily requesting it, but we felt let's just put it in the reserve fund so it's there, it's available in a worst case
scenario. Um, because again, if it's not used, it just closes up to free cash just as avoided if it wasn't touched. So, that's kind of the timeline and and thinking there. So, there's not an earmarked need for it right now today. And but it's really technically I'm
sorry if I don't understand something. There's only two months left in the fiscal year, correct? Right. So they'd have to need it the 300,000 within the next two months. Correct. We just approved their budget for the rest of the year. We've approved their budget for fiscal 26 starting in July. Um based
on their forecasts, they won't need it. The issue would be that that assumes some money will flow from the state into special education circuit breaker and if that amount is less than anticipated, they will have less revenue
which to support their budget. So their cost they feel pretty confident about. It's more about what revenues are we going to have to balance their school budget in Mississippi. And that was that was the request for the $100,000 or the one million revenues is the question, not the expenses.
So I'll just note on the town side, you know, we're under pressure ourselves because this was a much icier and snowier winter than we've had in the past couple years. Um, not conveniently for that's the office where I was going. Sorry.
Inconveniently for us, it was a lot of weekend storms which Saturday, Sunday turns into a lot of double time. Um, and very expensive. So, we're working through the town budget as well because of the pressures of the snow and ice here. And as I've been talking about
since really December on health insurance, health insurance has been um a really tough year. And so, um, having the reserve fund is helpful, um, for times like this when the snow and ice causes a deficit
in our budget that's, um, much higher than it usually is. Um, the the other thing I'll just throw out there on snow and ice is that we don't have to close up that deficit in this fiscal year. We're allowed to let that remain in deficit and then adjust it between now
and December essentially. So, we have multiple options to resolve that issue. Um, we'd like to wrap it up within this fiscal year and close the books um accordingly, but we don't have to if we can't. Thank you. Okay,
Tom. Judy. Um, just a quick question for Nick before Thank you. Um, they are ready to leave us. Nick, I'm going over my notes and I don't think I did a good job taking
notes. So, to clarify on those tax deferments, say the veterans, we defer for $1,000, we get 600 back from the state,
leaving a deficit of $400 on that particular property. Um I I didn't seem to clarify for my own self what happens to that deficit. Yeah, sorry. Deficit is not the right word. Um
the town funds that portion. So um the assessors have what's called an overlay account where um funding goes every year to support um exemptions in the senior workoff program. So exemptions are paid out of that and then
we are reimbursed by the state. So um exemptions come out of the overlay and if it's reimbured at 100% that 100% comes back to the town as a general fund revenue. If um it's less than 100% it just means we get less reimburseed. The
money there's no impact to the taxpayer. Um it's just a we put up $1,000. we don't necessarily get $1,000 back for the veterans exemptions. And to just to be clear, Judy, I I think you used the word
deferral and to be super specific about this, these are exemptions. There is a tax deferral program that um is the 4% interest in a lean on your house. Yes. Yeah. And Nick, you mentioned the workoff program. My
understanding of the workoff program is that um you're not working you're you're getting paid by the town to work so many hours per tax
year and that money goes directly to the treasurer's office, not to the worker, if we could say that. And that is applied to the tax bill. So h how would
you be looking for money back from the state on that? Could you explain that? We aren't where we don't get any anything back from the state on the tax workoff. We get money back from the state for exemptions. Okay. So I I thought I heard you say the
workoff program was included. Sorry if I did I misspoke but maybe I was referring to where that money comes out of which is the assessor's overlay account which is the case for the both the tax work off and all the exemptions. Okay. So the paycheck per se we'll just
call it that um comes out of the overlay account. Yeah. To pay the taxes. Perfect. Thank you for clarifying clarifying. We all set committee. Okay. So, Nick, can I just ask you a question? Just as to the first um just
about the appella the language Macy brought up just about the appella tax board. Um when when would we would we see changes this week or maybe next week? Yeah. Yes. Sorry. All the articles are the town council. So I'll flag that question in particular. We have talked through it.
So I am feel like I'm just not answering it well. So I we will circle back with you on that if any changes we feel are necessary are needed for clarity on that. And just and as um just also I'm sorry to uh the chapter 60 chapter 59
there with town council now too. Correct. So he hasn't approved this language per se yet. No, but the typically he'll he any modifications he'll make will be in terms of legal proof reading rather than than substance.
Okay. Okay. So, that's really that's really all I have. Everybody good? Thank you. Thank you. I'll be in touch. Uh Treasure McCarthy, thank you so much for coming down visiting the warrant committee. Happy to be here. We appreciate it. And I we talked about the
warrant prince date. We did. So tomorrow, no end. Bad joke. Bad joke. Bad joke. everything in green. I was just going to say so I I expect that and I understand
it and I apologize for the committee being in position accordingly but um yeah end of this week and then I would expect a lot of green sheet recommendations and comments and uh Nick what I shared with the same obviously we were good on the annual uh just because
the timing was great and thank you but um we'll do our best as we vote to submit them so I just want to say this publicly so we can at least get them on the website and I I know the importance that a lot of people give to the comments. So, we'll we'll be diligently
working on them as we vote. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you both. Have a good day. Okay. We're in committee. We have uh we have three statutory things. The things we just talked about
MBTA 10 and 25 liquor on town property which doesn't look like it's probably going to happen. The overlay which we've discussed and yet to vote on. And there's our amended language. So we just need to really
think we were all in agreement those who were in attendance uh to a yes vote. Citizens petitions petition. No idea. Um like trespass. Okay.
So you know we're looking at what seven at least. Um I'll do the flood plane comment. It's rather easy. Um but
um I mean aside from overlay we how do we feel about voting on anything? And I'm when I'm saying that I'm thinking Wednesday select board hasn't moved on light trespass. I assume it's going to be the same language that we saw. We could
discuss that. I'm just trying to forecast our Wednesday right now because even in light of what Julia had indicated and I've heard that also about maybe not having this town meeting. Um we need to just be prepared for all the
reasons Nick just said. So anybody want to give me any ideas? I'm open to all these any suggestions. Uh well, I think there's some things we can vote on that like um that but Nick had made some changes. Yeah. A few
things. So, those are out there. But, um, I think I should have said this at the beginning, but I think the light trespass, we should try to get see if we can get a volunteer from from the select board and maybe meet with one or two people from the moral committee and just
tidy it up and just try to tighten it up so that we don't have this confusion. They put forth something that people aren't sure about. That's what I would recommend. Well, they're voting on that. That's up on their agenda on Wednesday. But if they miss things again, we're
going to have the same problem. Yeah. I I I Do they know it's Can you Can you hold on a second? Um, thanks, Brent. Can we close the Well, it's an open meeting. Can I not do that? Well,
we're recording. We'll be recording. Yeah. Um, I'm just in in terms of that, Brian. I mean, I I really think it's going to be the same language that they're going to consider, right, at this. I I I can have
a conversation with Nick about it, but I don't really for I mean, it changed all those times. I would be surprised maybe if there's additional language or things that were added, but I I can't speak to it.
Uh, Mr. Chair, can I speak? That's a segue for you. I will say that Yeah, I will say that I emailed the select board just a couple sentences clarifying a few things that I felt were unclear. Um, I can send that to the group. The
select board has not acted on it at all, but I sent them to Mr. Milano and Mr. Z. Was that from one thing? Sorry. What's that? I'm sorry. Was that from the last iteration or is there a different iteration of it from? Yeah, from the last from the one
as of the night of town meeting with the five LS. Yeah, I took that version and added a couple sentences that I thought were clarifying. I can describe them if if you want. Um the the sentences I added were to say that, you know, the
five lux is light trespass. I tried to make it say, okay, if you're under five bucks, you're not life trespassing, and if you're over, then it's up to the select court. I'm sorry. I'm I I feel like I'm getting us off time. Maybe I should just let it breath as I sent them
a couple of sentences that I thought clarified things. I encourage other people on the warrant committee to do the same if that's okay with you, Mr. Chair. Just again, because yeah, we don't want the back and forth back and forth. Yeah, that's fine. J Jay, it'd be great if you could send it uh to like me
and Karen, just see what you wrote. And uh I mean I mean I'd suggest that of anybody, right? Uh it needs to get better. So if you have a suggestion and you want to send it like Jay did, uh that would be great. Um but of course, as we know, like I got the feeling from
town meeting that they were looking to pass that last time. So be mindful. Um okay. I don't know. I I'm thinking about voting on Wednesday. Do you want to talk right now? I mean, it's almost nine o'clock. We could have a very quick
meeting on Wednesday. Um and maybe take up uh the overlay, uh a couple of the chapter 60, the chapter 59. Um I probably have some of the citizens petition language. Uh we could
discuss MBTA if you want. Just have a vote, like a general discussion meeting. If there are things you need from the town, you can tell me. I can shoot it to Nick. Um, I'd like to maybe get a couple of volunteers or some comments, too, just to help things out. But, um, Mr.
Chair. Sure, Judy. Thank you. Um, on the like trust pass. Sure. Um, it'll be interesting to see how, you know, Jay tried to clean it up some of the confusion. And um I just wanted to
say that if that fine system that they have in the one that went to the May town meeting is still in there. I I
have a lot of reservation about that. So, you just said that you might um you know have a conversation with the select board and instead of me emailing
you that I'm just saying it now that I have a lot of reservation about that. I think it's when our committee discussed the historic district and
There was enough comments from our committee about the fine structure on that. So now I'm thinking why there aren't more
of us worried about the fine structure on this particular article. Um I think it's steep. I think there was no clarification
on how where to even go if you get this notice. And those are two things that um caused me to pause on the light trespass. I am in
favor of having such an article. So many towns have one. So why not us? However, um those are um those are concerns that I have that
if you are talking to somebody at the select board that they might want to reconsider a little. Thank you. Thank you, Judy. Okay, Mr. Chair, can I Sure. Absolutely.
Yep. Okay. Yeah. As I said, I sent some thoughts to the SLE court and I thought about what member Steel just said, which is, you know, she expressed to me earlier that these fines were steep and I considered suggesting that the court change it from $100 a day to 100. Now,
it's you get 45 days warning and then you get another 30 days warning, but still in violation. It's like $100 a day. And I thought of suggesting the select board change it to $100 a week. The reason I didn't suggest that is because what's I I thought what's
written in the warrant should be like the strictest. If the warrant says the fine is $100 a day and we or town meeting change that to $100 a week, then that's in scope, but if it's I don't know if you can go the opposite way. If you can print in the warrant, it's $100
a week and then change it to $100 a day. So that's my convoluted thinking as to why I didn't suggest the warrant the flood board change that. But it while we don't want crazy changes on the town meeting floor or in the warrant, we
could recommend, hey, we recommend everything word for word exactly like what's printed in the warrant except $100 a day should come $100 a week. That's something we might want to discuss with a committee and I don't think it would impede the possibility of this passing.
So something to think and to just if I could um piggyback on Jay Mr. Chair. Sure. Um Jay also and committee also what came up um when we were doing the historic district is that some members
were concerned there wasn't a cap. In other words, um, we put a cap on the fine, but there's no cap on this either. So, technically at $100 a day, by the time
you found somebody to resolve this issue because it's unclear where to go in the article, it's sort of like, well, I don't know, call Nick and figure it out. Um, you could rack up a a 30 another 30
days at $100 a day. That's $3,000 because you got outdoor lighting. That outdoor lighting that was determined was a trespass. Outdoor lighting that was
determined. We don't know who's going there. Even though most of the towns that surround us use their um building department um building inspection department and there's no clue who's going to go down
to um check out the it there there's just holes that aren't Jay and and that's $3 a month. Yeah. One other thing I said, and I was getting way out over my skis because I,
you know, writing bylaws is not a thing I do, but I also added a sentence and the sentence I added said something the effect of if the owner is being fined and they take action to fix it, then they tell the select board, I took
action to fix it, the fines stop acrewing until the select board or their person gets out there and determines if they're still in violation. Now, you know, that's that's as legally rigorous as, you know, I'm not a lawyer at all, but I I I hear exactly what you're
saying. I was thinking, if you're in this and you're getting $100 a day, how do you stop it? So, I suggested that. And there's there's no path. There's no path. And when you ask these questions um as we did that night that um the
article writer who was a presenter um there were vague in my mind vague answers. Oh the select board oh the select board will take care of this. The select board
uh it's not like a place you can go during the day. I mean, they're they're not at town hall. They have meetings like we do. We're not at town hall every day. Feels like it. Where can a person go? Probably
to Nick's office because that's also the select board office and say, "Look, here's a photo. I took it last night. The lights gone. I can't afford any more of this $100 a day.
Would Nick put a stop on it? There are still so many questions. Again, um not not against having a trespass article, but I think there's more than what you put into a couple of sentences,
Jay, which was good. I'm not saying that but I think there's besides that there are some problems with this article being clearly understood how it
will play out in everyday life. So, um I would love to see this article come back in the say in the fall where the select board can take all
these somewhat if you will bullet points of where we see some it can be better for the citizens um to understand and try and comply with
and have it come back in the fall, which really is only when you think about it, summer does go by fast, doesn't it? And next thing you know, we'll be raking leaves and figuring out where we stashed a fake Christmas tree. Okay. Um that Thank you,
holding conversation and um helping us. Thank you. I I knew we couldn't get past this meeting without discussing like trespass. So, so, uh, committee, Mr. Chair, No, no, it's all right, Judy. I I I knew it was going to happen. We have to talk about it. Um, but okay, we'll
have a quorum on Wednesday. Okay. Well, quorum on Wednesday. So, this is what I'm looking to do. I'm looking to vote on two out of the three that we heard tonight. If we get language back from Nick, maybe, maybe not. Um, I'd like to vote on
these. like to um vote on the overlay and maybe have a discussion about MBTA. And I I don't know if we have to talk more about light trespass. Um it it is what it is. Um but we can. But I I
just like to get these votes down, get some comments going, and then maybe talk about MBTA. At least the 10% plan. Yeah, we're going to have to talk about that anyway, and they're going to expect a comment from us. So, we can at least do something and uh it'll make I think
it'll make our job easier a couple weeks from now um much easier. Um Mr. Chair, I hate to jump in again. Um, if we're going to talk about the 10% plan, I went to the town hall to get a better map
of where the districts are in um the 10% plan and all I it it didn't zoom in on each district to sort of um for me to get a sense of where it ended and where it started. Um, you know, you couldn't
there were no street names, etc. Do you think that um will be available to us on Wednesday? Um I I can try to get a copy, Judy, of it. I haven't I haven't looked at the 10% plan myself yet or the materials
that Nick has put on the board. Nick said and and again I think I heard him correctly that the the map that I got on Friday was the only one they had. They didn't have the breakdown like in the 25% where
you took the yellow district is over here but then there was a separate map just for the yellow district and it's sort of um outlined it starts at Brook Road ends at K. You know what I'm trying to get at here? So there was a better
visual of where the zoning um was and um maybe check with Nick to see if he he's cut that in yet. Yeah, I I can do that this evening. Well, I think Wednesday,
you know, by Wednesday. Yeah, thank you. I will. Absolutely. No, no worries, Judy. Thank you. So, is that is that good for a plan for everyone that work gets us out early tonight? we can think about these additional questions, thoughts, discussion, vote. I really appreciate everyone coming in tonight.
Thank you very much. Is there a motion? Well, before that, I'd be happy to whatever comments you need, I'd be happy to help you with that. Thanks, M. Yeah, let me know. Motion second. All in favor? I We are