Budget, meals tax among Lakeville Town Meeting issues

LAKEVILLE -- Town Meeting voters will have their say Monday, June 8 on a budget that has been the subject of controversy and elicited strong opinions and emotions.

Those in attendance at the meeting, to be held at 7 p.m. at Apponequet Regional High School, will decide on an overall $38.2 million budget. This would include about $18 million for the Freetown-Lakeville School District.

Due in part to rising costs and reduced state aid, this budget funds less than the current level of services on both the school and town side.

To maintain the current services, voters were asked May 19 whether to approve a Proposition 2 ½ override, which would allow for added taxes to fund the budget.

Voters defeated the measure, causing the town budget to lose several positions.

The schools were scheduled for significant cuts, with the possibility of 63 positions impacted, including 39 full-time and 21 part-time jobs.

This could potentially cause programming changes that could put Apponequet’s accreditation under review, Superintendent of Schools Barbara Starkie has said.

That prospect drew strong reactions.

Students, angered by what they described as lack of support for education, walked out of class the day after the vote.

The Freetown-Lakeville School Committee members also spoke out against the cuts and what they described as lack of support from town residents.

They voted to put forward their original budget, which included no cuts, despite the override vote.

Other issues to be discussed include:

Voters will be asked whether to approve a meals tax of .75 percent to increase revenue to the town. Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth said the added funds from the tax could total about $125,000 per year. This tax would involve all establishments that serve prepared food, not just sit-down restaurants.

The meals tax was rejected at a previous town meeting, with some arguing that customers might patronize other communities that don’t have such a tax. Sukeforth noted that, of the surrounding towns, only Freetown, Rochester, Marion and Plympton have not implemented the atax.

A request from Lakeville Police to ban cryptocurrency ATM machines will be on the agenda.

These machines are often used for scams, Lakeville Police Chief Matthew Perkins has said, and require high fees. No machines are located in Lakeville. This article, if approved, would prevent them in the future.

Another article seeks to decrease the amount of earth that can be removed for a project before seeking select board approval. The current bylaw allows the removal of up to 2,000 cubic yards without an official approval. This article seeks to drop that amount to 1,000.

Voters can also approve a process to recall members of the Freetown-Lakeville School Committee. A procedure already exists to remove town board members but none had officially been in place for the school committee.

A Planning Board article asks whether residents would add the same regulations to data centers that are currently applied to the marijuana overlay district.

An article sponsored by town resident Nancy Yeatts asks voters to prohibit work within 25 feet of wetlands.  She said the boundary would protect wetlands, which she said have sometimes been encroached by as little as five feet.