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.