Aquinnah voters decided to pass the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) budget on Wednesday evening, ending the drama that erupted during town meeting season.
Aquinnah was one of the three towns, including Chilmark and West Tisbury, that shot down the high school budget in protest against the athletic field litigation between MVRHS and the Oak Bluffs planning board. The lawsuit stemmed from the board’s decision to reject a proposed synthetic turf over per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) concerns. The two parties are pursuing a resolution to the litigation.
Unlike the Aquinnah Town Meeting in May, where voters made impassioned statements against the lawsuit and synthetic turf, the Aquinnah Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, June 14, went through the school-related articles quickly, with little discussion.
Chilmark and West Tisbury voters also approved the high school budget during their special town meetings, meaning all six towns have now approved the budget.
Additionally, Aquinnah’s share of the high school budget was reduced from the initial amount. “We’ve been informed that the updated number is not $458,532,” Aquinnah Select Board chair Tom Murphy said. “It’s $432,432.01,” a difference of about $26,000.
“This is a revised number, and it’s the most recent information we have,” Murphy continued, who made a motion to use the reduced amount.
Voters overwhelmingly approved the amended amount, which was followed by an approval of the budget.
According to Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools business administrator Mark Friedman, the towns’ budget shares are divided based on the number of students at the high school from each Island town. Aquinnah had 14 students in the high school as of the student census taken last October, and its share represents 1.84 percent of the entire budget.
When asked about the reduction, Friedman told The Times that changes to the budget have happened before on short notice, such as updates to insurance rates. He referred The Times to Aquinnah officials. Murphy said it’s unknown where the first amount came from, although he expressed satisfaction with the fact the town gets to save money.
Two of the school-related warrant articles were nonbinding resolutions brought forward by citizen petitions. One requested a commitment that no anonymous donations over $5,000 for “legal action, experts, project design, and permitting related to any and all plastic fields” could be used for the high school campus.
The other asked the high school for a commitment to an “all-grass MVRHS campus with no plastic fields.”
Both of the resolutions were overwhelmingly approved.
Chilmark voters also approved these resolutions during their special town meeting, although the word “plastic” was removed. West Tisbury did not have these resolutions on the warrant, but a poll taken during their special town meeting showed overwhelming support for them.
Aquinnah voters also approved several spending requests, including $18,000 for grant consultant services.
One of the larger requests was spending $13,000 to fund an increase to the building inspector’s salary. Aquinnah will pay a quarter, $25,000, of building inspector Adam Petkus’ salary; Petkus will share his services with both Aquinnah and Chilmark.
Voters also approved a clerical change to the Fossil-Fuel-Free Demonstration language, which will restrict and prohibit new buildings and substantial renovation projects from being powered by fossil fuels.
