The Select Board will be meeting this evening at 7:00pm in the Select Board meeting room at Town Hall and remotely on Zoom. This is a separate board meeting, beyond the usual bi-weekly schedule, that was originally being held to accommodate a presentation and discussion on Fiscal Year 2025 Tax Classification.

The average single family home value for FY 2025 is $893,100. The table below summarizes the anticipated FY 2025 average tax bill amounts at various shift intervals:

Total Amount of the FY 2025 Debt Exclusion is $1,278,420. This adds $0.16 to the FY 2025 Res Tax Rate of $143 to the Average Single Family Home and $318 to the Average Commercial Property. The average single family tax bill will go up by only 0.64% in FY2025, compared to 4.5% in 2024.

Below are the Reading Town Comparisons for FY 2024:

Next up is a Presentation, Discussion, and Possible Vote on Town Meeting Warrant Article 15 – Funds for Reading Memorial High School Field House Floor. The total project costs: Foam-backed Vinyl is $1.7M, which was previously approved by Town Meeting. Facilities and the Superintendent are asking for an additional $1.3 Million for a Wood Athletic version. They cite that the “wood athletic option unquestionably provides a more durable and lasting surface a significantly safer and higher performing playing experience for our students, student-athletes, and community members.” Additionally in the chart below, the longevity of the flooring goes from roughly 20 years to 50 years using the Wood Athletic option.

This item was previously on the Town Warrant that the board closed but their was no presentation that night. In the end, the informal “vote to support” the article failed 3-2, with Karen Herrick and Chris Haley in the minority.

Afterwards, the board will have an Update, Discussion, and Vote on Parking Kiosks. At their last meeting during public comment, the board heard from numerous residents and business owners about how they have been negatively impacted by the parking kiosk rollout. What originally was supposed to happen in June, was delayed a couple months due to programming issues with the software vendor regarding the first hour being free implementation. That turned into September launch, which the retailers mentioned was their 4th quarter and their busy season. The general consensus was asking for the program to be paused until the new year. A majority of the board agreed with their concerns but a vote was not on the agenda until tonight.

The complete agenda is listed below:

• 7:00 Overview of Meeting
• 7:05 Public Comment
• 7:10 Presentation and Discussion on Fiscal Year 2025 Tax Classification
• 7:40 Presentation, Discussion, and Possible Vote on Town Meeting Warrant Article 15 – Funds for Reading Memorial High School Field House Floor
• 8:00 Update, Discussion, and Vote on Parking Kiosks
• 8:10 Discuss VASC Policies*
• 8:20 Future Agendas
• *Revised 10/10/2024 to add VASC agenda item. Originally posted at 1:27 pm, Oct 09, 2024.

The 7:00PM meeting will take place in the Select Board Room and Zoom. The public can attend virtually or watch via several options:  via a broadcast on RCTV’s YouTube channel at this link or on the RCTV Government Channel (Xfinity ch 22, Verizon ch 33). The Zoom link for this meeting is: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb8Vym7RZr