CHESHIRE, Mass. — Voters on Monday rejected a Proposition 2 1/2 override and passed a motion that would level fund the town's fiscal 2025 school assessment.

 

They also voted down a debt exclusion to purchase a $67,000 police cruiser 228-267, but approved an exclusion for an $850,000 fire truck 296-200. An article to separate the positions of town tax collector and treasurer failed 230-261.

 

All four questions had passed at the annual town meeting.

 

Question 1 on the warrant would have added $150,534 to the town's levy limit to cover the town's $3 million portion of the $23 million Hoosac Valley Regional School budget.

 

The question failed 141-355. At the special town meeting following the vote, Selectmen Chair Shawn McGrath motioned to level fund the assessment at $2,948,462, the same assessment as last year, and that passed 47-20 on a secret ballot.

 

The failure of the school budget means the School Committee has the choice to make cuts or resubmit its budget to a districtwide vote. The budget passed in Adams, the other town in the two-town school district.

 

Hoosac Valley's Business Manager Erika Snyder said the school district will request a meeting of all voters in the school district, which would decide the budget by majority vote.