Blandford Select Board Backs $200,000 Warrant Article for Engineering and Legal Services

BLANDFORD — September 22, 2025 — Blandford Select Board approved a special town meeting warrant Monday featuring a $200,000 raise-and-appropriate for outside engineering and legal services. The board, meeting with member Kara LaTondra attending remotely, voted unanimously to recommend the appropriation under Article 4 with a fiscal year 2026 sunset, after town moderator and financial advisor Mark Marrera explained that free cash will not be available until the state Department of Revenue certifies it — potentially as late as January. Marrera noted the town's excess levy capacity of roughly $700,000 comfortably covers the warrant's total cost of approximately $288,000, and that the $200,000, if unspent, rolls back into free cash. The per-household tax impact of Article 4 was cited at approximately $228. The warrant also seeks to create a full-time assistant treasurer-collector position vacant for close to a year, a full-time water superintendent funded through enterprise fund revenue, and $20,000 in gymnasium technology upgrades to be drawn from the building stabilization fund.