Work will help Town Council decide on election in 2021
Staff report
The town of Basalt has appointed volunteers to assess capital needs, solicit input from citizens and make recommendations on how to proceed to the Town Council.
The appointment of the Capital Needs Committee was part of the Basalt Forward 2030 project. The project is a council-approved initiative to take recommendations from the 2020 Master Plan as well as a professionally prepared Facility Needs Study to identify and prioritize capital improvements.
“The project may lead to Town Council asking voters in November 2021 to approve bonds and a property tax extension to help finance projects that are identified through the process and supported by the community,” said a news release from the town government. “The Town has an opportunity to seek voter approval for bonding to complete projects, without seeking a tax increase.”
Georgetown is suddenly running about $260,000 in deficit, due to pandemic-related delays with excise taxes.
Last year, when the town manager and Finance Advisory Board worked out the Fiscal Year 2021 budget, they set the town’s excise tax projections at about $120,000 more than what would be generated by the tax, Georgetown Selectmen Chair David Twiss explained.
“We predicted a bunch of people would buy new cars and cost of the excise tax would go up, etc., and people moving into town, and so on and so forth,” Twiss said. “What happened is we got struck with a worldwide pandemic, and with people working from home and not traveling, obviously less apt to buy a new vehicle.”
Former North Andover Town Moderator Charlie Salisbury dies
North Andover has lost one of its most iconic stewards.
Charlie Salisbury, longtime North Andover town moderator and Republican Town Committee chair, died Jan. 2 in Florida. He was 78 years old.
“It’s a tough loss for all of us,” North Andover Select Board member Rosemary Smedile said. “Always, always a gentleman, he had a quiet way about him. He was a very well-educated man. His gentle, polite way was always front and forward in how he lived his life.”
Life and love
Salisbury was born and raised in North Andover, growing up on Maple Avenue, back when the town had fewer than 8,000 residents and zoning bylaws were a new thing.