1 of 5 Wachusett changes rejected; No need for Holden to vote now.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Sandy Meindersma

Rutland town meeting's rejection of one of five proposed changes to the Wachusett Regional School District regional agreement Saturday meant that Holden did not need to vote on the changes at last night's town meeting, since Rutland was the fourth town in the district to vote down raising the cap on capital expenditures paid from the surplus account.

Five articles were placed on the warrant of each of the five towns in the school district after the regional agreement was reviewed, which is required every five years, according to the agreement. The articles included non-substantive wording changes, increasing the cap on indebtedness for capital improvements from $50,000 to $100,000, and eliminating the $250,000 cap on capital expenditures paid from the surplus account. Changes to the regional agreement require the approval of four of the five towns at town meeting.

With four towns voting in favor of four of the articles, the wording and indebtedness cap changes will become part of the agreement, but the proposed elimination of a $250,000 cap will not.

Paxton and Princeton, whose town meetings were earlier this month, approved all five of the articles.

Last Tuesday, Sterling approved four of the five articles, rejected an article seeking to remove the $250,000 cap on capital expenditures from surplus.

Saturday's vote in Rutland followed Sterling's lead, in which four of the five articles passed, but removing the $250,000 cap did not.

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