CUMMINGTON — Voters will be asked to approve a budget totaling $2,579,950 when Town Meeting convenes Friday.

The bottom line is slightly lower than this year’s spending plan, aided by school spending that has dropped by $53,676 due to lower enrollment, and general government spending that has remained flat.

“I think we’ve accomplished a lot this year,” said Finance Committee Chairman Dennis Forgea. “We had some extra room to do some things we’ve been trying to do for a while.”

One of those was to increase salaries for highway employees. After learning that the town’s pay scale was the lowest in the Hilltowns, the committee approved a $4-an-hour increase across the board for the superintendent and three employees. Proposed highway department spending is up by $35,380, or 6.8%.

The police salary line is also up, by $30,000, which Forgea said is money for a half-time officer.

“We don’t know where police reform’s going,” Forgea said. “We’re hoping to attract a half-time officer.”

The committee also created two enterprise funds, one for the municipal light plant and one for the water department. Revenue comes from users, not tax dollars.

Forgea said the committee also allocated $35,000 from free cash to the Recreation Committee to develop a pickleball court. The plan, he said, is to convert the old basketball court for pickleball use and resurface the old tennis court for use as a basketball court.

Town Meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Community House.

Election Monday

The town election will be held Monday from 1 to 8 p.m. The ballot features one contested election, with incumbent moderator Joshua Wachtel being challenged for the position by Mark DeMaranville.

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