LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Tuesday's annual town meeting includes a $12.5 million operating budget, the acquisition of Old Williamstown Road, and some free cash appropriations. 

Voters will gather at the Lanesborough Elementary School on Tuesday at 6 p.m. to decide on 24 warrant articles. 

The proposed $12,589,512 budget for fiscal year 2026 is a 5.6 percent increase from the previous year.  It includes a $6,863,585 Mount Greylock Regional School District assessment and a $317,109 vocational regional assessment. More details can be found here.

At the end of May, the Select Board voted to include a proposed $100,000 free cash appropriation for the ambulance department's temporary station lease, including the purchase of furniture and renovations, and reduce the budget by $50,000. 

The EMS department has been asked to leave the fire station at 180 South Main St., which is owned by the Fire Association, because of insufficient space. 

"There had been a recommendation from the Finance Committee that the amount that's currently earmarked in the operating budget, which was $50,000, potentially be put into a warrant article as a separate out of free cash so that it wasn't coming out of the operating budget," Town Administrator Gina Dario explained to the Select Board on May 27. 

"So there is some potential for us to do that. However, there is a bit of risk, and we wanted to have a discussion about how we could approach that." 

She said they have the option to maintain that money in the operating budget or put it in a warrant article, which has the potential of not passing, adding, "If the warrant article doesn't pass and we strip it out of the operating budget, then we're left without anything that would enable the ambulance to have an option for a premises." 

EMS Director Jen Weber said a rental space would be more than $50,000, revealing, "We have a higher number for a potential location." 

"I like the idea of being transparent about where that money was going," she said. 

"I also can tell you if something happened where you weren't able to go back and amend the budget, I wouldn't just go spend the $50,000, it would go back to free cash." 

The $50,000 made Weber nervous, as it wouldn't be enough to cover rent, let alone outfit the space to be usable for the department. The board, with Selectwoman Deborah Maynard absent, agreed that $100,000 from free cash would be a more reasonable amount. 

"We know something has to be done," Chair Michael Murphy said. 

"That's the selling point at the annual town meeting to the voters, so coming up with the least impactful to the tax rate and the bottom line." 

Dario reported that the town would still have $460,000 in free cash, "Which is it still higher than it was after last year's town meeting." 

Also on the warrant is a proposed $45,000 transfer from the stabilization fund for the redesign of the new public safety building. Earlier this year, the Select Board voted to advance a $7.3 million combined police/emergency medical services facility, discarding the option for a $6.5 million separate build. 

The same design, then priced at $5.9 million, was shot down in 2023. This warrant does not include a vote on the building. 

But it does include the acceptance of a portion of Old Williamstown Road by gift from the state. It is a 0.72 mile parcel from the south end of the road, starting about 220 feet north of the center of the bridge and proceeding north to about 65 feet south of the bridge at the north end of the road. 

Conversation about Old Williamstown Road began in late 2024 when neighbors asked that it be restored for pedestrian use. It had been closed to vehicles for decades but used for pedestrians, horseback riders, bicyclists, etc., and a couple of months prior, the state blocked it with jersey barriers.

Access was restored in January, and the Select Board discussed the town potentially taking ownership of the parcel, as it is a non-active part of the state's portfolio. 

Other free cash proposals include $250,000 for the replacement of a 2012 highway front-end loader, $50,000 for air conditioner replacements and wiring/relays for the heating system in Town Hall, and $5,000 for basketball court resurfacing at Narragansett Park. 

There are also two citizens petitions: A proposed amendment to the zoning bylaw that stipulates no structure along the shoreline of Pontoosuc Lake exceeds 26 feet without a special permit, and an article asking to adopt a state statute for a full tax exemption for surviving parents of military personnel who went missing in action during active duty and presumed to have died or military personnel or veterans who died as a proximate result of injuries during active duty. 

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