Overview:
Royalston voters will decide on three Proposition 2 1/2 override questions in a Special Town Election on September 4. The questions seek approval for a total of $425,000 to cover the cost of hiring a full-time police chief and one full-time officer, fill a revenue gap in the general operating budget and cover the town's regional school district assessment, and create the position of town administrator.
ROYALSTON – The first of two informational sessions for three Proposition 2 ½ override questions to be decided at next Thursday’s Special Town Election was held on Aug. 26.
Voters are being asked to approve a total of about $425,000 to cover the cost of hiring a full-time police chief and one full-time officer; fill a revenue gap in the general operating budget and cover the town’s regional school district assessment; and create the position of town administrator.
Several public forums have been held for Question 1, which seeks $173,000 for two full-time Police Department personnel. Royalston has traditionally depended on part-time officers to patrol the community, but that number has plummeted from 18 in 2021 to just seven currently.
Stricter training requirements enacted by the 2020 Massachusetts Police Reform Act are cited as the cause of a decrease in part-time officers statewide.
Joe Liebman, a member of the Royalston Policing Committee which studied the department’s manpower shortage, has previously said, “A department that depends on part-timers is no longer sustainable.”
Question 2 asks voters for just over $155,000. Of that, $105,301 would be used to shore up the general operating budget, while $50,000 would allow Royalston to meet its “required local contribution” to the Athol Royalston Regional School District. The town’s assessment for the FY26 district budget is just over $805,000.
Selectboard member Linda Alger described the town’s FY26 budget as frugal, adding there is not room to cover unexpected costs “like bookkeeping errors….For the last, I’d say, 15 years, we have been unable to raise and appropriate any money for (Town Meeting) articles. It has all come out of the stabilization account. I think the town is just one crisis away from having no finances.”
Last year, Royalston residents voted against closing the town’s transfer station and regionalizing those services with Winchendon. Liebman pointed out that “the shortfall for the transfer station has almost doubled since 2020. It went from $30,000 to $56,500. That’s something that’s not figured into the 2 ½ increase allowed in the budget.”
The handful of residents at Tuesday’s meeting agreed that one important strategy for the town’s finances lies in the passage of Question 3. If voters agree, $85,000 would be committed to hiring a town administrator; someone with the time and expertise to apply for state and federal grants that could help cover expenses, from municipal programs and services to important capital purchases.
Selectboard Chair Bill Chapman was adamant in suggesting that passage of Question 3 would go a long way toward solving many of the town’s budget woes.
“In the long term,” he said, “passage of number three would help because there is so much money out there to be had. That’s what we need, someone who can go after those funds, who can help make us way healthier financially. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.”
It’s estimated that passage of all three override questions would increase Royalston property taxes by $186 for every $100,000 in valuation.
According to information distributed Tuesday evening, aRoyalston’s tax rate is now at at $9.47 per $1,000. By comparison, the rate for neighboring Phillipston is $12.84/$1,000 and for Petersham, it is $15.79/$1,000.
The Royalston Special Election is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 4. Balloting will take place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 13 on the Common.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.