Worthington Town Meeting Approves Budget, Zoning Rules Despite Deficit Warning

WORTHINGTON -- May 4, 2024, Worthington Town Meeting approves $5.4 million unbalanced budget and votes to extend retiree health benefits. Finance Committee chair Joe told the gathering that proposed fiscal year 2025 expenditures of $5,424,827 exceed estimated revenues by $75,544, a structural gap he attributed to the near-exhaustion of years of unused levy capacity, warning that a Special Town Meeting will likely be needed this fall to draw from the General Stabilization Fund. Residents voted 76-53 to begin paying 50 percent of retired employees' health insurance premiums under MGL Chapter 32B Section 9A, and 67-49 to extend the same benefit to surviving spouses, with Town Counsel Jeff Blake of KP Law confirming prior Select Board promises to at least two employees had never been legally formalized. An amendment to cut the second full-time police officer's $65,083 salary in half, pushed by resident J.P. Welch and backed by resident Richard, was defeated after Fire Chief Mike Donadiego argued both officers serve as front-line first responders in a town the state police cover with just two cruisers across 13 communities. Town Meeting also approved zoning amendments replacing four specific outdoor uses with a broader "outdoor recreation" category and creating a new temporary events permit, both passing 97-28, well above the required two-thirds threshold.