The Board of Finance gave quick unanimous approval to the Board of Education‘s proposed $100,459,485 operating budget on Tuesday, Mar. 31, but now intends to take more time examining the Board of Selectmen’s $38,821,769 proposal.
BOF member Kim Healy, who served on the BOS for four years, presented a detailed proposal for reallocations, cuts and additions to the new BOS budget, which would ultimately result in an overall reduction of $30,637. She also endorsed adding $435,000 to the operating capital side of the budget for repairs of the sidewalk at Veterans Memorial Stadium, full funding of the new Plan of Conservation and Development, and a dump truck, sander and plow at the Department of Public Works.
BOF Chair Tim Birch suggested that members mull over Healy’s suggestions with the intention of the board meeting again on Thursday, Apr. 9. By that time it’s hoped that they will also have information on the BOS’s plans for bonding requests — and therefore a more complete picture of all the budget building blocks.
Birch said the BOF needs to make a decision on the budget for Fiscal Year 2027 by Apr. 14 in time to bring an official budget proposal to voters at the Tuesday, May 5 Annual Town Meeting.
“Imperfect World”
Birch opened discussions on the BOS budget by noting that they were faced with being in an imperfect world with regard to financial details. While they had been promised the solid numbers for Fiscal Year 2025 by the end of March, Interim Chief Financial Officer Joseph Centofanti has not provided them.
“I think it’s important for this board and the Board of Selectmen to try to reach a compromise on the Board of Selectmen budget,” Birch said. “I don’t think it’s in the best interest of this town to have a long and prolonged disagreement on the budget, and while I think that we need to make sure that whatever questions we have are answered … in this imperfect world we may not get all the answers we want; we won’t get all the answers we want.”
While Healy was again clear that there questions she’d asked that had gone unanswered and information she had requested from Town Hall that hadn’t been provided, some of what she had seen in the budget had shown there were clearly issues that needed to be addressed.
“Because we have line-item authority for the Board of Selectmen budget, I propose that we make those corrections,” she said. “I have also proposed adjustments to other line items.”
Is Headcount Growth Sustainable
“The number of employees have grown by over 10 FTEs [full-time equivalents] since 2023, and yet the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance did not know that, with at least two members of the Board of Selectmen claiming that the number of employees is less than in the past,” Healy said.
She said the matter should be discussed in more detail during this summer, after budget season was completed.
She also noted that the wages being paid to new employees were much higher than in the past.
“For example, the controller is making approximately $180,000 and in the current budget, the budget for it was in the mid-$140,000s,” Healy said. “We need to discuss the growth in these wages and whether such a continued growth is sustainable.”
Toward that end, Healy suggested removing $13,300 in the BOS proposal that is budgeted toward a salary increase for the DPW director.
Purported Personnel Purview
Healy noted several areas that she believes could be reduced, two of which were already discussed by the BOF — a $150,000 reduction in the group insurance category, thanks to lower-than-expected increases in the state plan; and $101,900 for a new DPW position that the BOF was clear last week it did not support.
Instead, as Healy noted with a recommended $170,214 addition to the budget, the BOF is strongly urging that the BOS spend money to hire a new town administrator to help get Town Hall back on track after a year riddled with issues centering on the management of the town.
Second Selectman Ross Tartell, who claimed to be speaking as a private individual, made comments before Tuesday’s meeting implying that the BOF had no business trying to guide or decide personnel matters.
“I also have one specific issue that directly comes from the [Town] Charter and it says, ‘The first selectman shall appoint, remove, and supervise town employees and may fix their compensation, except as otherwise provided by Charter or ordinance,'” he said, “So personnel matters are exclusively the purview of the first selectmen and the Board of Selectmen, so as you think about what changes you are advocating for in this budget, you have to say, ‘What is the playing field that we are allowed to play on,’ and it’s not personnel issues.”
Editor’s note: The Town Charter does specify that the Board of Finance has authority to change specific line items in the Board of Selectmen budget proposal. It makes no limits on what items the Board of Finance can adjust — including personnel.
BOE A-Okay
Healy was the only BOF member to speak to the school board’s budget, which was quickly and smoothly accepted by a unanimous 5-0 vote, with BOF member Prasad Iyer not in attendance.
Healy said there was a question that came up for her about how the employee numbers at the front of the budget book didn’t match with the numbers in the back. She said it was explained to her, however, that staff members funded by grants were included in a separate listing.
She said, however, that it was worthwhile for the BOF to spend some time taking a closer look into how the school budget is created and detailed after this budget season is completed.
“They are very conscientious … but that shouldn’t excuse the analysis that it could warrant being quite a large budget,” she said.
Early Survey Results
BOF member Eric Fanwick gave a quick summary of the finance board’s survey results, after 631 residents responded to the online questionnaire.
The numbers were almost even on support of the BOE budget. Of those 631 people, 37% said they supported the 3.6% increase to the BOE budget, and 13% said they would support an even higher increase, for a total of 50%. Meanwhile 41% said they did not support the increase of 3.6%, with 9% not answering that question.
The BOS budget had less support, with 59% of respondents saying they did not support the 3.6% increase, with 7% not answering. This balanced with 25% that said they supported the 3.6% increase and 8% stating they would support a higher increase, for a total of 33%.
The full results of the survey, they said, would be posted online.
Birch praised the work of the BOF.
“I commend this board,” he said. “We have had a lot of meetings in the last 10 weeks and people have worked really hard … It’s been a lot of work.”