Pepperell Board Sets Tax Rate, Accepts Charter Draft, Hears DPW Warning

PEPPERELL — October 28, 2013 — Pepperell's Board of Selectmen heard a wide-ranging Department of Public Works briefing Monday, accepted a final draft town charter, and set fiscal year 2014 property tax rates. DPW Director Ken Kalinowski warned the board that the highway division's general fund budget has fallen from $902,000 in fiscal year 2010 to just under $850,000 this year while the division has shed two full-time positions, and that an EPA stormwater mandate — the NPDES Phase 2 permit, for which the town has just lost its long-held waiver — could cost between $50,000 and $200,000 annually in new unfunded compliance expenses. Charter Commission Chair Joe Sergi presented the final draft charter, which would route all department reporting through the town administrator, create an appointed fire chief, and convert the elected town treasurer to an appointed position; the board voted unanimously to affirm support for the charter's continued process, with a household mailing to roughly 5,000 addresses expected to cost under a dollar per piece. The board also set the fiscal year 2014 residential tax rate at an estimated $15.87 per thousand, with no shift to commercial-industrial property and no residential or commercial exemptions, then continued a special permit hearing for a proposed small engine repair shop at 42 Nashua Road to November 12 after questions arose over whether retail sales are permitted in the Recreation Residence District and a disclosed past-due water and sewer balance of $2,092.35.