The vote was delayed until a June 13 session; voters appropriated $5,000 for Celebrate Ludlow.
LUDLOW – The annual Town Meeting convened Monday night, but voters agreed to postpone action on the proposed fiscal 2012 town budget and other financial articles until a June 13 session.
Selectman Aaron Saunders told town meeting members that the town is facing “a difficult budget year.”
The School Committee will be meeting Tuesday night at 7 at the School Department offices on Chestnut Street to consider an additional $350,000 in budget cuts due to an increase in health insurance costs for all town employees.
The annual Town Meeting will reconvene June 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Exit 7 Theater on Chestnut Street.
At Monday’s session of the annual Town Meeting, voters agreed to appropriate $5,000 to the annual Celebrate Ludlow celebration held every July.
Selectman William E. Rooney said the financial gifts and donations which are used to fund the event have decreased over the past two years along with the troubled economy.
The town has been holding the event for the past 11 years. The first Celebrate Ludlow was organized in 1999 to celebrate the town’s 225th anniversary.
Celebrate Ludlow Committee member Kathleen Ouimette said proceeds from the annual celebration which includes fireworks go to fund non-profit civic groups in the community such as high school athletics clubs and other youth organizations.
Originally, the group asked for a $7,500 appropriation this year, but the amount was dropped to $5,000, Ouimette said.
Christine Banas, a member of the Hubbard Memorial Library Board of Trustees, said she was opposed to the appropriation to Celebrate Ludlow because there are some town departments such as the library which have had funding cut for part-time positions.
“The library could use this money,” she said.
The $5,000 appropriation to Celebrate Ludlow was approved by a majority show of hands.
Also at the Town Meeting voters approved a $10,800 request from the Fire Department to replace thermal imaging cameras and a transfer of funds for an automatic chest compression device which Fire Chief Mark Babineau said makes a dramatic improvement in the survival rate of heart attack victims.