The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School budget secured a final stamp of Islandwide approval Wednesday when Aquinnah residents voted to pay for the town’s share of the financial plan at a special town meeting.
After narrowly rejecting the budget last month, Aquinnah voters easily passed the town’s $432,432 portion of the budget 39-2. With that vote, all six towns have now passed the budget, capping a contentious town meeting season.
Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury had all previously voted down the school budget in opposition to the school’s legal spending on a lawsuit over an artificial turf field.
The school needed four of the six Island towns to pass the budget to approve it overall. Chilmark broke the stalemate last week when the town overwhelmingly voted the budget through. With four towns now in favor, Aquinnah is obligated to pay its portion of the budget, and the town needed to appropriate the money at town meeting.
At the Aquinnah meeting Wednesday, schools superintendent Richie Smith assured the residents that no portion of the school’s finances for fiscal year 2024 would fund the lawsuit.
“The high school committee reconvened… and capped the spending of the legal fees at what was left in the budget for FY 23,” he said. “As of June 30, that will be the end of the funding from the general budget for this appeal.”
The town later passed two nonbinding resolutions that formally ask the regional high school to commit to an all-grass campus and refuse anonymous donations above $5000 for any plastic turf field-related projects.
Voters approved all other articles on the warrant, including funding requests for a town building inspector salary, repairs for the Dukes County Health Care Access Building in Oak Bluffs, and grant consultant services. A small change to the wording of a town’s fossil fuel bylaw also passed.
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