Shutesbury Finance Committee advances capital list, eyes $800,000 fire truck borrowing

SHUTESBURY -- March 17, 2026, Shutesbury's Finance Committee cleared a capital project list totaling roughly $300,000 in free cash spending and an $800,000 borrowed fire truck replacement ahead of the May 9 annual town meeting. Chair AJ Gwadz and Capital Planning Committee representatives George Hartstein and Nate Mosher reviewed more than a dozen items including a motor grader contingent on a $250,000 rural road grant, a $15,800 parking lot engineering study at Shutesbury Elementary School, $5,700 in electronic voting clickers for town meeting, and a $7,200 records digitization project. The committee flagged a $535 projected average single-family tax bill increase, driven in part by a 44 percent spike in elementary transportation costs, as above its informal $500 target, and identified $83,445 in dam repair costs with no current funding source. Town Treasurer Ryan is expected to present fire truck financing scenarios and a full debt schedule at the March 24 meeting, when the committee must also finalize the budget and vote on warrant articles.