ORANGE — After much debate, Orange has passed a $20.1 million budget, with no changes to the proposed budget.
Monday was the first night of the annual Town Meeting, which concluded Tuesday.
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 2½ 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.
On Tuesday, voters made it clear they want to change the state flag and keep plastic bags.
Article 33, which passed after little debate, calls for Orange to pass a resolution supporting a bill introduced by state Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Suffolk, which would create a special commission to investigate and recommend changes tothe state flag and seal.
The Massachusetts state flag and seal depict a Native American holding a bow against a blue shield as a backdrop, and with an arm holding a sword above the shield.
The article claimed that the flag should be changed because of the “many abuses of racism” suffered by Native Americans. It also claims the symbolism of the flag is inappropriate because the broadsword depicted is supposedly that of Myles Standish, a colonist who led attacks against Native Americans in the 17th century.
Those who opposed the resolution said the flag was a part of Massachusetts state history, and that misplaced political correctness is leading to the erasure of that history.
Now that the resolution passed, the town must send copies of the resolution to local state representatives.
The plastic bag ban article was the main point of debate on the night.
The article called for banning the sale, distribution or usage of plastic bags at checkout at any Orange grocery store or retail store, with exceptions for things like newspapers and meat. Fines would be given out to noncompliant businesses.
Those in favor of the article said reusable bags are available for free throughout town, like at the Quabbin Harvest, and are a good way to reduce pollution.
Others said the negative effects of reusable cloth bags outweighed the positive ones.
“While reusable bags are a nice thought … people don’t bother to clean them,” said George Willard, who was concerned about germs being spread at places that sell food.
Victor and Laurie MacDonald, who recently set up a plastic bag recycling program at the Orange Transfer Station, showed up to oppose the ban and were commended by others who were in opposition.
“Rather than passing prohibitions on plastic bags, I think we should be passing out awards tonight,” said Ann Reed, who mentioned the MacDonalds as well as businesses in town, like Trail Head Outfitters & General Store, that have voluntarily started using plastic bags.
A similar ban was passed in neighboring Athol last year, which Victor MacDonald said has discouraged people from shopping there and has been a burden on the poor, who rely on the sturdiness of plastic bags.
“Please give recycling a chance,” said Victor MacDonald, adding that the recycling program him and his wife have set up is on pace to recycle over 30,000 plastic bags a year.
The article was shot down with 49 opposing and 43 in favor.
Another large item on the warrant — which passed — called for the Selectboard to borrow $750,000 to repair a four-tenths-of-a-mile section of North Main Street.
Selectboard member Jane Peirce said passing the article was critical, because if the aging and damaged culvert under that section of road — which will also be repaired through the project — ever failed, that section of road would be impassable, rerouting residents down side streets to get to the elementary schools.
She also noted the project is a good deal. Orange only has to pay $750,000 for preliminary engineering on the project, and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is willing to fund the construction costs, estimated to be at least $5 million.