The Lancaster ballot includes an unprecedented question asking residents if the town should set up a 650-thousand dollar pension and provide health insurance for the family of a part-time firefighter who was killed on duty last November.
Firefighter Martin McNamara died on duty last November in the basement of a burning home.
Lancaster and other communities with part-time fire departments are not required to pay death benefits to families of fallen firefighters.
In March, the Town Meeting agreed to put a question on the ballot as to whether to raise taxes to pay for the family's benefits.
The question must be put to voters because property tax increases of more than two-point-five percent must be approved by residents.
No Massachusetts community has ever voted to pay accident death benefits to the family of a volunteer firefighter.
