LEYDEN — Annual Town Meeting voters will be asked to consider a $2.03 million fiscal year 2024 operating budget that proposes adding a new town assistant, designating Hunt Hill Road as a private way and paying off a larger portion of broadband debt.

The 24-article meeting will be held at Town Hall, 16 West Leyden Road, on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Residents will consider the budget, which represents a 7.04%, or $133,449, increase from the current fiscal year. Selectboard member Glenn Caffery said he feels “really good” about the budget and thanked the Finance Committee and its chair, Ginger Robinson, for their work.

“The Finance Committee is a strong group,” Caffery said, “and Ginger’s leadership style results in a collegiality and honest airing of different perspectives that make the weekly budget-season meetings with the Selectboard productive.”

The two largest cost hikes are from a $57,460 increase for education, including $41,667 to Pioneer Valley Regional School’s budget, and $24,700 for a new town board and department assistant position. Caffery said the new position would aid the town in securing additional grant funding and will also take some of the load off Municipal Assistant Michele Giarusso.

“We are asking the town to support a part-time administrative position that will be very key to taking advantage of the grants that are available to us,” Caffery explained. “[Giarusso’s] job has become kind of a kitchen sink job over the years.”

He noted the $24,700 is on the high end of pay and the Selectboard will work on fine tuning the job description and wage in the near future.

Article 18 requests residents vote to discontinue a portion of Hunt Hill Road, while Article 19 would accept that portion as a private way. Caffery said this is a continuation of work the board has been doing over the last year to look at town roads and determine the best course of action for them. He noted the Selectboard has been negotiating with the current landowner and may have to make an amendment to the warrant on the Town Meeting floor depending on the result of those discussions.

“The town has a liability that we can’t afford to have,” he said, adding that Hunt Hill Road is “close to impossible to bring up to modern standards in a small town” if Leyden was required to maintain or upgrade it.

Article 21 asks voters to transfer $125,000 from the Broadband/Enterprise Special Purpose Stabilization Account to pay down broadband debt. At the 2022 Annual Town Meeting, the town transferred $63,000 and Caffery said Leyden is in a good financial position this year to knock a larger chunk off the debt.

“We’re eager to be as aggressive as possible. … Loans are not great for towns like us,” he said. “We feel we’re being conservative enough with the retained earnings.”

Special Town Meeting

Prior to the Annual Town Meeting, however, Leyden is holding a Special Town Meeting at 5:30 p.m. that revolves around housekeeping articles and the town’s free cash.

Article 1 asks residents to transfer $15,000 to pay the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust, Article 2 requests residents transfer $87,063 to the Highway Capital Stabilization Account, and Article 5 requests voters transfer $255,836 of broadband retained earnings to the Selectboard’s Municipal Light Plant Stabilization Account.

Two articles relate to a new Police Capital Stabilization Account. Article 3 asks residents to create the account, while Article 4 requests voters transfer $10,000 of free cash into the new account.

The full Annual Town Meeting warrant can be found at bit.ly/3p6jubY. The Special Town Meeting warrant can be found at bit.ly/3CxUiyg.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.

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