Annual Town Meeting Info: New Truck

On the ballot and at Town Meeting on May 1, voters will be asked:

“Shall the Town of Ashfield be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition two and one-half, so called, the amounts required to pay for the purchase of a truck and plow for the highway department?"

This “debt exclusion” ballot question seeks permission from the voters to borrow money for the purpose of buying a new highway truck to replace a 20-year-old truck. The old truck to be replaced is a 1990 Ford 8000 with an 8 cubic yard dump body and a 20-year-old slide-in V box sand spreader and plow.

A debt exclusion can only be authorized by a two-thirds vote of approval at annual town meeting and a majority vote of approval at the ballot box: a YES vote will be a vote in favor of the debt exclusion to purchase of a new truck, and a NO vote will be against the debt exclusion and purchase of a new truck.

A New Truck

A new truck (estimated cost = $145,00) would be a current model equipped with modern equipment including what is called an all season body and a snowplow.

•An all season body is a combination dump body and sand spreader. It can be quickly converted, normally with just one person. (To put in or take out a slide-in sander body for our current truck requires more people, much more time and a piece of equipment to lift the sander body and the dump body tailgate.)

A new truck with an all season body provides:

•More load capacity for spreading sand, less trips back to the sand shed.

•Material spread in front of rear tires rather than behind them provides traction. No need to back up in very icy situations, rear discharge trucks often back up the entire length of a road, very time consuming. Sand mixture spread in front of rear wheels versus behind them puts the driver and all users of the road in a much safer situation.

•A more uniform and efficient sand spread pattern, resulting in less wasted material, less material used per lane mile.

•Less top heavy; a V box spreader is very top heavy and often a contributing factor to a problem such as a truck getting sucked into a ditch or tipping.

•A little more stability in equipment replacement schedules. Trucks are scheduled for replacement at twenty year intervals. The next oldest truck is a 1994.

•A truck ready to be used as a dump truck on a year round basis.

•More reliability, dependability and cost savings - less likely to need repairs than a twenty year old truck

•Updated emission standards, cleaner exhaust etc.

What is Debt Exclusion?

The purchase of a new truck would be financed by borrowing money under terms of a “debt exclusion.” By approving a debt exclusion, a community calculates its annual levy limit under Proposition 2-1/2, then adds the excluded debt service cost. That amount is added to the levy limit for the life of the debt only and may increase the levy above the levy ceiling. Unlike an override, a debt exclusion does not become part of the base upon which the levy limit is calculated in future years.

How Will Taxpayers Be Affected?

As currently estimated by the Board of Assessors:

If a $145,000 truck is financed for 3 years at today's rate of 3.1%, this adds $7,034 interest over the 3 years for a total of $152,034. This adds $0.23/$1000 value to the current tax rate. This $0.23 increase will be added to the tax rate for 3 years only.

•For a property worth $100,000, the increase in taxes will be $23.00/year each year for 3 years (total over 3 years = $69.00).

•For a property worth $200,000, the increase in taxes will be $46.00/year each year for 3 years (total over 3 years = $138.00).

If the same $145,000 truck is financed at 3.85% for 5 years, this adds $14,635 interest over the 5 years for a total of $159,635. This adds $0.14/$1,000 to the current tax rate for 5 years only.

•The $100,000 property owner will see an increase in their tax of $14.00 each year for 5 years (total over 5 years =$70.00).

•The $200,000 property owner will see an increase of $28.00 each year for 5 years (total over 5 years = $140.00).

Ted Murray
Chair of the Select Board