Lancaster won't vote on the Budget at Annual Town Meeting?

 

Photo by Chris Arthur-Collins on Unsplash

 

"This is the moderator's meeting, his rules, knowing full well that it is on the ballot five days later, he made the decision as is his right, to not vote on an item because it's going to be voted on by a larger group of people, arguably, five days later."  - Steve Kerrigan, 4/19/2023 

 

Last night the Select Board held a meeting at 6PM, followed by a review of the Annual Town Meeting warrant articles at 7PM.   During the first part of the meeting, Town Administrator Kate Hodges r(evealed something unexpected:  Lancaster won't vote on the budget at the May 3rd Annual Town Meeting, we'll approve it at the ballot box at the Annual Town Election on May 8th.

You can check out video of the discussion in this TownHallStreams video, starting around 25:00.

Town Administrator Kate Hodges indicated that the budget will be on the warrant as question 1, and that it will be the "first and last slides" in the slide presentation shown.   

 

Select Board member Alix Turner asked a number of followup questions about why it won't be voted on at Town Meeting, to which  Chair Kerrigan ultimately replied "This is the moderator's meeting, his rules, knowing full well that it is on the ballot five days later, he made the decision as is his right, to not vote on an item because it's going to be voted on by a larger group of people, arguably, five days later."

Up front, I'm personally skeptical that this is an option: the question on the ballot on May 8th is a Proposition 2 1/2 override question, using the language the state requires for that kind of question.   (The state's guide is here)   There is some additional language added about the yes and no votes....

This is a blurry clip of the question from the meeting video:



It reads:

"Shall the town of Lancaster be allowed to raise an addition $1,200,000 in Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes for the purpose of funding the operating budgets of the town government and school departments for the fiscal year beginning July 2023.   

A yes vote on Question 1 allows the operating budgets of the Town Government and School Departments for FY24 to be funded.

A no vote on Question 1 disapproves the operating budgets for the Town Government and School Departments for FY24.

Yes ___
No  ___"

I don't see how this will qualify as approving an operating budget.  That balance question references an "operating budget" -- what operating budget is it approving exactly?   It doesn't even mention grand totals for appropriations and expenses.

Later in the meeting, during the warrant review, resident Joe Deramo asked some good questions about this unusual approach.   Steve Kerrigan replied that "attendees at town meeting might vote against the budget, but the ballot vote might later override their vote."   (2:07 in the video)   This is not a process that exists, for certain.   Kate Hodges then added the the moderator was concerned that the moderator "...didn't want people to believe that because they voted at town meeting, they didn't need to vote on Monday."

I wrote the state Division of Local Services to get some feedback on how we're approaching this; I'd be happy to share whatever I learn.