LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Voters approved 32 of the 34 articles on the warrant at the annual town meeting on Tuesday night at Lanesborough Elementary School.

 

More than 100 registered voters attended the meeting, which lasted a little more than two hours, to vote on the proposed fiscal 2025 spending plan, board and committee seat procedures, three articles related to short-term rentals, and various spending items. Voters rejected expanding a tax exemption to military parents and referred an accessory dwelling bylaw to the Planning Board. 

 

Voters approved a budget of $11,851,407. Of that is a net increase of $237,129 in education costs for the Mount Greylock Regional School District and McCann Technical School, less than the $271,478 increase in FY24. 

 

During the meeting, voters made two amendments, one for the Police Department budget and another for the recreation program budget. 

 

Voters added an additional $1,000 to the police budget so that the department can develop a police report in next year's annual town report. 

 

The report would provide "meaningful data that accurately captures what police work in Lanesborough entails. Such data would help me feel confident that we're funding our police at a level that meets the needs of a small town in a rural county," one voter said. 

 

An additional $3,800 was added to the recreation program budget to put the septic back online at Bill Laston Memorial Field. Park visitors currently have to use portable toilets.