By Patty Roy

Members of Charlton’s town boards met on Nov. 19 to share information about their ongoing budgets and activities and give a “heads up” on future needs. It was a time to get a summary of current conditions and new projects.

“It’s an opportunity to look at the rest of our fiscal year, where we’re at in budget planning and where we want to go,” Bill Borowski, Select Board chair told the group.

Overall, the town is in good shape, said Town Administrator Andrew Golas, with officials projecting $800,000 in new growth based on a five year average. Once The town actually picked up $2.5 million in new growth, he said, with

Most of that was accounted for by the LNG plant on Southbridge Road and the construction of the Amazon warehouse.

Free cash was certified by the state at $3.2 million, up 1.8 percent. The town added $724,000 to its Capital Stabilization Fund and the General Stabilization Fund stands at $4.3 million, over its goal. Stabilization funds are often referred to as “rainy day” funds to guard against unexpected expenses. 

The town also has over $1 million in excess levy capacity, so it is in a very strong fiscal position, Golas said.

Both commercial and personal property have dominated new growth for the past four years, he said. There has also been a big spike in assessed values after 2021.

The town also anticipates an $18.5 million expenditure for a new fire station. The vote to approve a debt exclusion (which will not permanently raise the tax rate) and loan authorization came at the town meeting and election in May 2024.

The construction design is 100 percent complete and is now before the Planning Board and Conservation Commission.

The town is currently awaiting state approval to acquire a property from the Dudley Charlton School District for the project which is required by Massachusetts General Law.

The project will be going out to bid soon with bids due by January 17, Golas said.

Also on a positive note, the Main Street sidewalk beautification project was funded to the tune of $620,000 exclusively through the Community Partnership Funds from Amazon. About 1300 feet of sidewalk was repaired with an additional 600 feet added to connect the elementary school to the Charlton Public Library. There were also some added safety improvements along Main Street, he said.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements were made at Maynard Field for approximately $437,000 . This was partly done with a loan, but primarily from Community Partnership Funds from Amazon.

The library roof was repaired at a cost of $252,000 taken from Free Cash.

The Public Safety Radio System , a multi-year $1.3 million project used $1.1 million in American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds  to improve radio communications for public safety plus build a  communications tower at Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School. The money will also fund the conversion from an analog to a digital radio system, said Golas.

Calling the state of the town “positive” Borowski , cautioned that “we have to remain vigilant. Don’t forget it was just a few years ago we were facing overrides and a lot of difficult conversations.”

Planning Board Chair Don Clay said besides the two warehouses built in town recently, there are also several solar farms and an energy storage facility that were built. The energy storage projects in the area are getting bigger, Clay said, but there are no new solar farms planned, although the ones in town are still under development.

Several large subdivisions are still progressing through all phases of construction, he said. He expects construction will start in the spring on the subdivision of Route 31 by the depot. 

Clay put in a plea or a new Master Plan committee. “We are looking for help from our citizens,” he said. 

The town has 45 square miles of land that is cheaper than land to the east of Route 495.  The town will not stay the bucolic farmland that it has been for so long and it won’t be what we want unless we work through the Master Plan and make changes, Clay said.

“We have to figure what we want to be when we grow up,” he said.