When Hopkinton residents participate in the annual school meeting by drive-up voting at the high school on Saturday, they will be faced with a petition warrant article to move to SB2 voting.
Towns and schools like Hopkinton that have traditional annual meetings were the ones that got caught up in the coronavirus worry and were forced to delay. Those that use SB2 have a deliberative session over the winter, then ballot voting in early March and this year they held their meetings and voting before the virus hit.
Hopkinton is following the lead of the Bow school district, which held a pair of virtual meetings followed by drive-by voting last month. The system led to a six-fold increase in participation from previous years.
In Hopkinton, voters will be asked to pass or amend a $21.4 million operating budget, which is a 4.5 percent increase over the current budget. Another big-ticket item is a proposed teachers contract, giving 100 teachers, nurses and councilors a 2.75 annual increase per year for three years. The cost of the agreement is a little more than $300,000 per year.
Those two warrant articles stand to increase taxes by about $345 a year for a home worth $300,000, according to school district officials.
A virtual meeting will be held Friday night to review residents’ comments and questions submitted following Tuesday night’s presentation of all articles on the warrant. Voting at the high school is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Voters with last names beginning in the letters A-K are asked to vote between 9 and 11 a.m., while those with last names beginning with the letters L-Z are asked to vote between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Same day voter registration won’t be available.
More information about the warrant and the meeting procedures can be found on the district’s website.