Pepperell Selectmen Unanimously Back $1 Million Override, Approve Craft Beverage License

PEPPERELL — February 24, 2014 — Pepperell selectmen unanimously backed a minimum $1 million Proposition 2½ operating override and approved a craft beverage shop's all-alcohol license at the same February 24 meeting. Finance Committee Chair Melissa Zendakis presented projections showing projected FY2015 revenues of roughly $20.8 million against expenses of $21.3 million, a structural deficit of approximately $533,000 driven by a $3.5 million rise in school assessments since FY2007 while the town's operational budget fell more than $300,000. The committee's unanimous recommendation — supported by five of six members — was for a $1 million override, which would add approximately $262 per year to an average $282,000 home's tax bill and was projected to carry the town through 2019 while funding the start of a capital plan. In the same session the board voted 2-0, with one member recused, to approve an all-alcohol package store license for Tarbell Station Beverage LLC at 2 Tarbell Street, proposed by Randall Brubaker as a destination craft beer and specialty wine shop — the first new package store license issued after at least two prior denials — over the objections of three existing license holders, including Race Package Store owner Ken Chaplin and former licensee John McDabb of 15 Shirley Street, who warned that past boards had denied a third license in the same building for the same reasons.