The final annual town meeting of the season will take place in Aquinnah on Tuesday, where voters will decide on dedicating more than $500,000 to improving municipal infrastructure and town-owned properties.

The 24-article warrant will also take on a budget increase and a debt exclusion to improve the up-Island schools. 

Town meeting is set for May 13 at 7 p.m. in the town hall and will be moderated by Michael Hebert. Quorum is 46 residents. 

At the top of the warrant is funding to improve town hall. The building is in tough shape and in desperate need of repairs, according to town administrator Jeffrey Madison. Article 11 on the warrant asks town voters to allocate $135,000 in available funds for the restoration of town buildings.

Funding to help pay for the playground is also on the warrant. — Ray Ewing

“The town did a study several years ago about the cost of repairing all of the town buildings and the cost was prohibitive, I think it was about $15 million...” Mr. Madison said. “We’re taking a piecemeal [approach] and fixing all the squeaky wheels that turn up over the next 12 months.”

Mr. Madison said several areas in town need repairs. Article nine asks the town to approve $10,000 to rip up and replace the two electric vehicle chargers outside town hall. Road improvements and construction appear in article 15, which would allocate about $70,000 to the highway department.

Another $40,000 would go toward regrading and resurfacing the parking lots at the town hall, the library and the new playground. Mr. Madison said the playground is entering phase two of construction, which includes building a toddler section. The town is asking for $70,000 in community preservation funds and to borrow an additional $180,000 over the course of 10 years, to finish the project.

The town is also seeking to install new audio and video equipment in the town hall to improve accessibility by regularly hosting meetings via Zoom.

“We don’t have the technology available in our town hall to have a Zoom meeting...” Mr. Madison said. “We want to be able to have a system that can be readily available for use by townsfolk and management of their committees.”

The equipment would cost $15,000.

Education costs and salaries dominate the town’s $7.3 million budget for fiscal year 2026, which is 3.9 per cent and $274,434 higher than the current spending plan. Mr. Madison said other regional organizations are able to give salary increases to their employees, but Aquinnah hasn’t been able to keep-up.

“There’s no fat in our budget at all...” Mr. Madison said. “If you work here, you work for short money is what it comes down to, and it’s really difficult for those of us trying to manage the budget.”

Elsewhere on the warrant, voters are asked to approve a debt exclusion to allow the up-Island school committee to borrow $200,000 for capital repairs to district facilities. Emily Day, the town’s accountant, said the tax increase  would be temporary and the exact amount is unknown.

A second debt exclusion question to help pay for a feasibility for the West Tisbury School is moot because the funding request was rejected by voters at West Tisbury’s town meeting.

In other big ticket items, the town is asking voters for $56,389.28 to purchase a new Tri-Town ambulance. Mr. Madison said the cost is split evenly between the three Up-Island towns. Article 13 asks for an additional $30,560.78 to purchase two life-packs for the regionalized department.

Aquinnah is required by state regulation to construct a new kennel facility for use by the animal control officer, a position that Mr. Madison said has been left unfilled for nearly three years. The kennel facility is $15,000 and the town would use available funds.

“We had this makeshift thing that was really cheap, and frankly, it just blew away,” Mr. Madison said.

Voters may remember voting to fund the town’s grant writer, Gisele Gauthier, at the special town meeting in November. Mr. Madison said Article 12 on the current warrant seeks to keep her on-board for another year.

Article 21 asks voters to approve $196,850 in community preservation revenues for housing efforts both in Aquinnah and out-of-town. If passed, some funds would go to the development of the Island Autism Group housing, and the Island Housing Trust’s development of veteran and school employee housing. Funds would also support the Carl Widdiss Way apartments behind the town hall.

This year, $119,860 in historic preservation funds are proposed for four efforts, some of which would support the Aquinnah Cultural Center (ACC), which is seeking to preserve and acquire materials for its archive.

Perhaps the most notable part of the evening is something that didn’t make it on the warrant: leaf blowers. 

Each of the other five towns have passed bylaws to phase out gas-powered leaf blowers in some fashion. The prohibition has been talked about in an Islandwide effort and labored over for hours at other town meetings, but didn’t make it on the Aquinnah warrant. 

The warrant is largely bereft of any bylaws or potential amendments, save one.

At the end of the night, voters will decide whether they want to accept a bylaw to impose a local meals excise tax of .75 per cent from the sale of restaurant meals. With few restaurants in town, Mr. Madison said he estimates the receipts would be about $1,200 per year.

Tisbury and Oak Bluffs have the tax, and it has come up in Chilmark, as well.

Aquinnah’s annual town election is May 15. Polls will be open from noon. to 8 p.m. at town hall. The town has a number of open positions on the ballot, including town moderator, two open positions on the planning board, an associate position on the planning board and two library trustees positions. 

Mr. Madison is encouraging residents to run write-in campaigns, and show-up to this year’s annual town meeting.

“We need people to vote to run the town and so it’s important that they show up to learn about what we’re doing... to understand where their taxes go and to do their part in helping us manage town affairs,” Mr. Madison said.