JAY — Voters at Jay’s annual town meeting Tuesday approved all 42 warrant articles and reelected two incumbents to the Select Board.
They adopted an ordinance freezing lot rental fees for mobile home parks, retroactive to Dec. 8, following rent increases of up to 50 percent at some parks over the past one to two years. The freeze gives the town time to consider a permanent ordinance regulating future rent hikes.
Voters further approved raising $200,000 so the town can change the company that collects its trash. The amount is $46,000 more than this year’s contract with Archie’s Inc. of Mexico, but the Select Board chose to replace Archie’s after frequent complaints about delayed and missed pickups. Somerset Disposal Service of Madison will take over the work.
A related article appropriated $10,000 for curbside pickup of recyclables. At its meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight, the Select Board is expected to call a special town meeting for May 11 to raise additional money for single‑sort recycling.
The $10,000 approved Tuesday covers only the cost of collecting recyclables at the curb. Sorting is expected to cost about $40 more per ton than the $88 per ton charged for trash pickup.
In the candidate races, Fourth Selectman Tim DeMillo, who ran unopposed, received 557 votes. Ten residents wrote in other names, and 123 left the line blank.
Fifth Selectman Gary McGrane, who also ran unopposed, received 533 votes. Thirty voters wrote in other names, and 127 left the line blank.
The budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 totals $7,187,607, an increase of $431,468 over the current year’s $6,755,139.
Spending will rise 3.04 percent, slightly above the national inflation rate of 2.7 percent and just below the 3.1 percent rate for the Northeast.
Of the nearly $7.2 million budget, about $3.4 million will come from local taxes. Nearly $4 million is expected from other revenue sources, including state revenue sharing.
Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere told the Select Board when she presented the budget that revenue from sources other than local taxes is difficult to predict. She described her estimate as conservative. Of the warrant’s 42 articles, 25 were for spending.
The largest budget lines: Public works, $2,014,913; Police Department, $1,179,363; town government operations, $739,725; Sewer Department, $678,600; Fire Department, $454,206, along with a separate item to move $183,000 from a reserve fund to replace air packs and install a heating system at Station No. 2; hydrants and streetlights, $417,750; Paving Capital Reserve account, $350,000; debt service, $321,000; Jay‑Niles Memorial Library, $316,834, which includes wages, programs and deferred maintenance on the building; curbside trash pickup, $200,000, with a separate article raising $10,000 for curbside pickup of recyclables; ambulance service, $78,882.
At its meeting tonight, the Select Board is expected to elect its chair and vice chair, appoint board committees, hear information on sewer rates for 2026‑27, act on a warrant for a June 9 special town meeting on police collaboration between Jay and Wilton and set a date for a public hearing on that collaboration.
