Lanesborough Finance Committee Defers FY25 Transfer Votes, Calls Special July 14 Session

LANESBOROUGH -- July 7, 2025, Lanesborough Finance Committee delays FY25 reserve fund transfer votes, sets special session for July 14. The committee unanimously re-elected Lyndon Moore as chair, Julie Baker as vice chair, and Kristen Toole as secretary at its July 7 organizational meeting, then declined to act on five reserve fund transfer requests totaling approximately $34,870 drawn from the town's $50,000 annual reserve account to cover Department of Public Works overtime, contracted-services shortfalls, equipment repairs, workers' compensation costs, and an actuarial correction. New member Baker and Toole questioned why unspent DPW budget balances were not tapped before the reserve fund and asked whether the overtime transfer skirted the committee's policy against using reserves to cover salary lines. "I'm not comfortable voting to approve these until my questions are answered," Toole said. The committee will meet at 5 p.m. on July 14, one hour before the Select Board, with transfer approval as the sole agenda item, pending written answers from Town Accountant Katie. The committee also flagged a hotel-and-motel tax revenue overage of nearly $18,000 against a $72,000 budget target, with Baker linking the surplus to a short-term rental surcharge passed at a prior annual town meeting and noting that unregistered rentals, she cited at least eight full-time operations on Narragansett Avenue near Pontoosuc Lake, may not be captured in those figures.