China prepares for annual town meeting

by Mary Grow

Voters at China’s Saturday, April 6, town business meeting will have 31 warrant articles to consider, fewer than in previous years.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at China Middle School, if a quorum is present. Selectman Irene Belanger will make the annual presentation of Spirit of America awards about 8:45 a.m., and any other presentations and speeches will be before 9 a.m., not during the meeting.

The quorum needed to open the meeting is 119 registered voters. Since more than 1,200 residents voted against abolishing the quorum requirement in a November 2018 referendum, Town Manager Dennis Heath expects no difficulty getting a quorum this year.

Voters will decide on the 2019-2020 municipal budget and on ordinance changes recommended by the planning board. The 2019-2020 school budget will be decided at a June vote.

This year’s warrant articles ask voters to approve funding for a category, like administration (Art. 3), legal costs (Art. 7), the transfer station (Art. 10) and public works (Art. 11), without listing details in the article. Redesigned articles include boards and committees (Art. 4), social services (Art. 13) and community support organizations (Art. 14).

A separate section of the 2018 town report, called Addendum Two, Annual Budget, lists the 17 boards and committees (not all requesting funds) covered by Art. 4, 13 social service groups and seven community support organizations, as well as detailed breakdowns of the other requested expenditures.

Selectmen and budget committee members disagree on two proposed expenditures, for stipends for volunteer firefighters (Art. 9) and for a pay increase for selectmen (Art. 23).

Articles 29, 30 and 31 ask voters to approve Land Development Code amendments. Each article includes a brief explanation of the changes the Planning Board recommends.

Voters will decide on the 2019-2020 municipal budget and on ordinance changes recommended by the planning board. The 2019-2020 school budget will be decided later this spring.