More flexibility on town meetings

Law allows leaders to weigh June date

Tewksbury Town Manager David G. Cressman expects his community to consider shifting the date of its annual meeting to June.

A new state law "gives you a greater flexibility and finality about your numbers," Cressman said of the local aid and other state figures that towns need to set their budgets.

But the chairman of Ayer's Board of Selectmen, Gary J. Luca, doesn't see that happening in his town.

"I think we're pretty satisfied with the way it is," Luca said. Ayer's bylaws set Town Meeting for the second Monday in May, a week after Tewksbury. He said the date works well for the town because "we have most of the information when Town Meeting comes in May."

Around the region, the response to the new law has been mixed. Local officials said they welcomed the option, which allows towns to conduct their annual business in June, but offered varied takes on whether their communities might use it.

Until now, the standard window for annual town meetings set by the state was February through May. According to Marilyn Contreas, senior program and policy analyst with the state Department of Housing and Community Development, towns could establish a June meeting date only through special legislation or by providing for it in their charters.

Under a law signed April 15 by Governor Deval Patrick, towns can move to a June date through a simple bylaw change unless their current dates are set in their charter or a special act. Those would have to be amended in order to change the date.

State Representative Denis E. Guyer, a Dalton Democrat and chief sponsor of the bill, said the intent was to give towns more time to finalize their budgets.

In June, communities have "a more realistic picture of the revenues that are coming back from the state," he said, noting that school districts, particularly regional ones, would have more time to prepare their spending plans.

"It's just one more tool we are giving local government officials, I think, to help them craft a more reasonable and accurate budget," Guyer said of the bill, which had the backing of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

"It gives communities more flexibility than we understand they have now," said John Robertson, the association's associate legislative director. "We thought that was a good thing."

Guyer said his only note of caution is that June town meetings give towns less time to complete their work before the next fiscal year starts July 1. Currently, communities sometimes convene their meetings in March, April, or May, then adjourn until June to complete their business, which state law allows.

In 2006, Wilmington changed its Town Meeting date from the last Saturday in April to the first Saturday in May. But in light of this month's annual meeting, which failed to reach its 150-person quorum for 45 minutes, Selectman Michael V. McCoy expects renewed discussion about the date of meetings.

McCoy said he prefers to shift the meeting to the first Saturday in April on the theory that more people will turn out in bad weather. He asked: "Are people really going to spend all day Saturday at the local gymnasium" in June?

In Belmont, which by bylaw meets the fourth Monday in April, Board of Selectmen chairman Angelo R. Firenze sees some benefits to a June date. For a number of years, Belmont adjourned its meeting until June to take up its budget, but Firenze prefers to stay with the April date because "it forces you into the process that much sooner" and helps the School Department determine its staffing for the coming year.

Billerica by bylaw holds its annual Town Meeting the first Tuesday in May. Board of Selectmen chairman Jim O'Donnell Jr. does not think there would be much interest in changing to June.

"It hasn't been a problem with us," he said, noting that the town usually estimates its local aid numbers accurately, and that the state has released those numbers in a timely manner in recent years.

Jeanne Krieger, chairwoman of the Lexington Board of Selectmen, also does not expect her town to move its meeting - now set by bylaw as the first Monday in March. She said an early date is an asset in the event of an override because it allows departments enough time to accommodate changes before the start of the new fiscal year.

Arlington's bylaws provide for the annual meeting to start the fourth Monday in April.

Given that the representative meeting generally runs about four weeks, Selectwoman Annie LaCourt said, "it would be difficult for us to start in June and conclude everything we need to conclude in time to meet our deadlines with the state in regards to our budget."

She said a June meeting would also "play havoc" with the schedules of members planning summer vacations.

In Reading, which by bylaw meets the fourth Monday in April, Town Manager Peter I. Hechenbleikner welcomes the option of June meetings.

"But I don't anticipate we would use that in Reading," he said, noting that the town has about as much state budget information in May as it does in June.

Concord has no set date for Town Meetings, but tends to meet the last week in April. Town Clerk Anita Tekle said she doubts there would be interest in shifting to June because it would leave too little time for the administrative tasks needed before the new fiscal year.

"Also, in the event we had an override, it would push the override into July, and no one would want that," Tekle said.