Special Town Meeting Must Be Called Before 2013 Ends

Less than 24 hours after the Fall Special Town Meeting ended on Wednesday night, a Town Meeting member submitted enough signatures for another Special Town Meeting to be held before the end of the year.

Thursday afternoon, Precinct 4 Town Meeting member Herb Chasan submitted more than 250 signatures to Framingham Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey calling for a Special Town Meeting to deal with a $409,000 surplus in the town's budget.

Mulvey said she certified the signatures Thursday and a Special Town Meeting must be called within 45 days. 

Town Meeting members are required to have the materials for a Special Town Meeting 14 days prior and with Thanksgiving the last week of November, the meeting could be held the first week of December. Selectmen will set the date for the Special Town Meeting.

The meeting must be held before Dec. 8, said Mulvey.

Thanksgiving is Thursday, Nov. 28. Hanukkah is Nov. 27 through Thursday, Dec. 5.

Chasan said he gathered the signatures necessary for a Special Town Meeting, as Town Meeting members should have a discussion and take action on what to do with the additional $409,000.

Earlier this month, Framingham's Chief Financial Officer Mary Ellen Kelly suggested the $409,000 could be used to reduce the tax levy to about 2.2 percent. If that was done, homeowners would see an approximate $15 reduction in their residential property taxes.

Selectmen set the tax rate in December.

Chasan said he wanted Town Meeting members to have a say about the $409,000 before Selectmen set the tax rate.

There was no budget adjustment article in the Fall Special Town Meeting warrant that just concluded this week, said Chasan, that is why I needed to collect signatures for a new Special Town Meeting.