Hancock Town Meeting approves budget, other articles

Roughly 10% of eligible voters turned out for Hancock Town Meeting Saturday, enough to fill the first floor of the Meeting House.

Voters approved the approximately $3.8 million budget after brief discussion about areas that might have been overlooked for savings. In total, the budget represented a 5% increase, including the impact of filling vacant town employee positions and a 25% increase in insurance costs. Necessary cost increases in other areas, notably public safety and highways and streets, were somewhat offset by a  sharp reduction in the cost of the town’s debt service.

The town approved a bond issue of $465,000 to pay for the scheduled resurfacing of more than 25 miles of paved town roads, which equates to a cost of approximately $153 per registered vehicle.

In support of the local volunteer fire department, voters agreed to spend $25,000 to conduct a comprehensive planning and organizational assessment of the department, touching on training, compliance, facilities and equipment needs. Town Meeting also approved funding a reserve of $75,000 for eventually renovating the current station, which dates to 1980.

Voters also gave unanimous consent to studying the feasibility of merging the police force with neighboring Greenfield’s, with which there has been ongoing cooperation. Residents also agreed to raise up to $75,000 to replace the 2019 Ford 150 police vehicle.

Approval went smoothly for several reserve fund articles, including establishing an expendable trust for information technology. Funds were reserved for road pavement ($10,000), a bridge project ($50,000), building capital reserves ($20,000), public works machinery and equipment ($70,000), the town’s Meeting House ($10,000), and for property reevaluations ($10,000), with all of the money coming from Hancock’s unreserved funds.