Click here to view official results from the June 18, 2024 Special Town Meeting
A Special Town Meeting was held in Andover on Tuesday, June 18. The Special Town Meeting was called by the Select Board in order to consider articles that would address an imbalance in the Town’s FY2025 operating budget produced by an amendment to the budget approved during Annual Town Meeting on April 29 that increased funding for Andover Public Schools (APS) by $1,875,000.
Town Meeting considered two articles that presented options to resolve this imbalance. Article 1 considered authorization of a transfer from free cash to fund the increased appropriation for the School Department, and Article 2 effectively sought to revise the School Department budget to the amount initially presented to Town Meeting, plus a minor adjustment to account for an unintended increase in state aid. Ultimately, Town Meeting disapproved Article 1, denying the use of free cash to increase funding for the school department, and approved Article 2.
With Town Meeting’s approval of Article 2, the Town of Andover now has a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2025.
A third article was approved authorizing the appropriation of $121,323 into the Finance Committee Reserve Appropriation. This amount is equal to 30 percent of the additional state aid that the Town expects to receive. This is consistent with the standard percentage of Chapter 70 funding typically allocated to the Town to account for costs incurred by Town departments to support education, such as building maintenance, technology, and health insurance costs.
Click here to view official results from the June 18, 2024 Special Town Meeting