COLRAIN — Annual Town Meeting voters will be asked to adopt a $1.9 million operating budget for fiscal year 2025, buy a police cruiser, save library statuary, and add a short-term rental provision and a Floodplain Overlay District to the zoning bylaws.

The meeting will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Colrain Central School, with 46 articles to be considered.

The requested town budget represents a $37,500 increase, or less than 2%, over the current year’s spending plan. However, the Finance Committee and Selectboard are not recommending the Mohawk Trail Regional School District’s $2.4 million operating assessment, which is about a 6.2% increase. The biggest budget hike for Colrain comes from school bus transportation, which went up by 83% under a new bus contract and due to decreased state reimbursement for regional transportation.

Other spending requests include:

■$62,133 for the Mohawk Trail school district’s capital assessment.

■$8,628 for Colrain Central and $3,637 for Mohawk Trail, to upgrade phone systems for enhanced 911 communications.

■A $24,000 transfer to pay for technology-related expenses: firewall upgrades, new server room door and locking mechanism, desktop and laptop computer stations.

■An $80,000 police cruiser, with $54,251 coming from the Police Stabilization Fund and $25,749 coming from free cash.

■A $57,000 transfer from free cash to buy Highway Department snow removal equipment and a trailer. However, the Finance Committee and Selectboard do not recommend approval.

Under a new bylaw proposal, short-term rental of residential properties would require owners to get a signed permit from the Planning Board, with a fee of $100 for a one-year permit. Also, an owner of more than one property in town may only use one property at a time for a short-term rental.

The purpose of adding a Floodplain Overlay District is to ensure public safety, eliminate new hazards to emergency response officials, and prevent contamination and pollution of water resources. If approved, the town’s building inspector would be the official floodplain administrator, reviewing permits of any future development proposed in the floodplain. Also, the Conservation Commission would need to review and approve any new construction in the Floodplain Overlay District.

Another zoning bylaw change involves updating the town’s solar photovoltaic system regulations to reflect state changes.

For decades, plaster busts of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, Homer, Christopher Columbus, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Beethoven and Dante Alighieri have been kept at the Griswold Memorial Library. Some are in need of repairs or restoration. Library trustees have considered removing some or all of them, but a citizen’s petition article on the Town Meeting warrant asks voters “not to erase our town history” by voting that the library continue to display the statues.

Another petitioned article asks if a stop sign should be placed at the intersection of Jacksonville and Main roads, so that traffic coming from the north would stop, allowing traffic coming down the mountain to turn left more safely.

A final petitioned article asks the town to adopt the Massachusetts Community Preservation Act by approving a 3% property tax surcharge that would be used with matching state funds for town improvements — parks, open space, historic preservation and community housing.

To view the full Town Meeting warrant, visit tinyurl.com/ColrainTownMeeting2024.