Andover Will Offer Babysitting For Special Town Meeting Attendees

The Andover Recreation Division will offer babysitting for kids in grades K-5 whose parents want to attend the Special Town Meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 1.

Online preregistration is required and needs to be completed by Tuesday, Nov. 29. Monday at 5 p.m. is the deadline to register to vote to participate in the Dec. 1 special town meeting.

Special town meeting will be asked to approve new borrowing up to the $16.4 million figure and to transfer $463,731 left over from the $1.2 million town meeting approved in 2018 to fund the West Elementary School Feasibility Study to fill a budget shortfall. The shortfall is attributed to higher inflation and global supply chain issues.

If approved at the current $16.4 million estimate, the borrowing would add approximately $69 to the average Andover taxpayer’s annual bill, based on an average assessed single-family value of $759,453. Those taxpayers are already paying an estimated $471 per year over 30 years for the original project cost and have a total annual local property tax bill of $11,088.

The actual impact to taxpayers could range from $65 to $83 for the average taxpayer, based on different interest rates when the town completes the borrowing.

The town has been holding information sessions leading up to special town meeting. The remaining sessions are listed in the table below:

Read more about the West El project and budget overruns.