By DAVID McLELLAN

Recorder Staff

ORANGE — After much debate, Orange passed a $20.1 million budget at Monday’s Annual Town Meeting, with no changes to the proposed budget.

Monday was the first night of the Annual Town Meeting, which has not yet concluded.

The total fiscal year 2019 — beginning July 1 — budget will be $20,103,315.92, a modest increase over this year’s $19,671,069.07 budget.

However, despite the increase, the budget includes many cuts to services. 

Departments have seen 5 percent cuts to their expenses across the board, with the exception of the following departments:

Police Department expenses were cut by 6.25 percent; the Fire Department expenses were cut by 6 percent; the Highways, Cemeteries and Parks Department expenses were cut by 6 percent and the reserve fund was reduced to $30,000 from $94,000 in the 2018 fiscal year. 

One point of debate was various educational expenses. Education makes up the brunt of the Orange budget, now set for $11,180,648 for next year.

The elementary schools have seen cuts, and class sizes are increasing to about 25 children per class at Fisher Hill Elementary School due to a reduction in the number of class sections. 

At the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School, two instructors and one administrative position were cut, as well as late buses. The School Committee has cited increasing costs for Special Education and health care, as well as contractual pay increases as driving the spending increases for the school. 

The loss of late buses caused some debate, with some residents proposing to adopt an election for a Proposition 2 ½ override at a later date to raise $25,000 in order to keep them. 

Finance Committee member Anthony Leger explained the difficult budget situation, and opposed a motion to vote for an override.

“I want to caution though, that there were long discussions about the schools’ budgets,” Leger said, adding that a School Committee meeting, not the Annual Town Meeting floor, is the place to discuss keeping buses or not.

Pat Smith, a member of the Mahar School Committee, said she initially fought to keep buses, but changed her position when the idea of losing a student councilor was brought up. 

Ultimately, the motion to vote for a Proposition 2½ override to fund late buses failed, and Mahar will thus not have the service this year.

The 36-article warrant came with a summary of budget issues written by the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee wrote that “Orange faces a high tax rate, while our population has many elderly and low-income citizens.”

Indeed, Orange has the 18th lowest per capita income in the state — $18,100 compared to the state average of $42,000.

“Minimal new growth is predicted for FY19,” the statement also reads. “Minimal increases in revenue resulted in a difficult budget development process this year.”

Still, many commended the Finance Committee for delivering a balanced budget that, albeit with cuts to services, did not eliminate any current town employees.

Orange’s Annual Town Meeting will resume Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall, and yet-to-be-voted articles included a plastic bag ban and a resolution to change the Massachusetts state flag and seal.

Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.