Pepperell Selectmen Set Override at $1.136 Million for September 9 Ballot

PEPPERELL — July 28, 2014 — Pepperell selectmen set a $1.136 million Proposition 2½ override question for the September 9 ballot, slightly above the amount that failed in June. The board debated whether to lower the ask by $109,000 — cutting a police cruiser, a plow truck, and a library heating conversion — before unanimously backing the higher figure, which adds a second police cruiser to close a projected five-year budget gap. Town Administrator John Moke said the town has shed the equivalent of nearly 10 full-time positions in annual staff hours since 2008, free cash has fallen from $1.14 million to $297,000, and a structural deficit of roughly $2 million is projected by 2019 if the override fails. The board also denied a National Grid stub-pole petition on Jewett Street over the objections of the highway superintendent and the abutting homeowner, continued a second National Grid petition on Hog Hill Road to August 25, and unanimously approved a common victualler's license for a new Subway franchise at 112 Main Street.