No subscription needed for Obituaries and Public Notices      

Haddad to FinCom: 'This is YOUR Budget'

With the costs of municipal government continuing to rise, the budget that will be presented to voters at Annual Spring Town Meeting will reflect a close to seven percent increase in this area without including the town's debt service. Although Town Manager Mark Haddad is responsible by Charter to prepare a fiscal budget by December, he stressed to the Finance Committee at their Monday night meeting, "This is your budget."

The FinCom reviewed departmental budgets and ultimately approved the General Government portion of the budget, but not without a number of questions regarding the escalating costs.

Resident Kevin Lindemer asked the FinCom about what he calculated as a year-on-year increase that amounted to 7.5 percent. "There's a lot of stuff in here that's going up faster than the rate of inflation," Lindemer said adding, "That's a big increase," and asked "why?"

Haddad responded that this was due to increases in insurance and bonding.

As Lindemer asked how much the "budget would have gone up taking out the insurance and bonding," FinCom Chairman Gary Green stressed that there would not be enough time at Monday's meeting to go into "technical questions" and noted that there have been a number of reviews at multiple meetings over the past weeks. He added, "The Town Manager budget is $1.296 M with a 7.58% increase."

Green stressed that in addition to the spending increases that were due to insurance and bond expenses, he characterized the remainder of the items as "small." Colleague Barry Pease added that it "was a combination of many small changes that added to the seven percent increase."

Lindemer responded that this was "going up much faster than inflation."

FinCom member Bud Robertson pointed out that wages and salaries were increased by 2.23 percent and the Board of Assessors by seven percent. "It is a substantial increase," Lindemer said.

Green suggested that general questions, such as why the budget is going up at a greater rate than inflation could have been asked in January.

"Why do we have a year-over-year increase over seven percent" Lindemer again asked.

Robertson replied, "Most departments spend more than inflation. Two-thirds of the budget is wages and salaries. This is what the town voted for and it makes the budget look worse." (At an earlier meeting with the FinCom, Lindemer pointed out that wages and benefits of town employees were rising twice as fast as the average household income.)

In addition, costs for employee benefits increased by nine percent and pension insurance increased by 11 percent.

New spending in this budget includes a debt fund for fire protection installations at Lost Lake, radio communications equipment for public safety departments, debt service for the Four Corners Sewer, and a full- time School Resource Officer.

As the Finance Committee was prepared to vote for the addition of the School Resource Officer, member Bud Robertson said that that he had asked Town Accountant Patricia Dufresne for a job description for this position some time earlier, and that since he didn't yet have it, he did not want to vote on it. In deference to a colleague, the FinCom agreed to wait until their next meeting to take a position on the addition of the School Resource Officer.

Nashoba Valley Regional Technical High School assessment to Groton increased by 4.16 percent to $596,609. Although the student population from Groton stayed the same, the assessment reflected a 10 percent salary increase at the school. Robertson said, "This is an amazing increase-a $24,000 increase for 30 students."

The Groton-Dunstable Regional School District assessment to Groton increased by $510,000 to $18,266,196.

The Finance Committee also approved the Land Use budget with an increase of $15K for support for an organization for teenage depression called T.A.D.S. and the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health; Library and Citizens Services, Enterprise funds, and the DPW.

Haddad advised that this year there would be a new Cable Access Enterprise fund.

For current year line item transfers, Haddad told the FinCom that the Fire Chief found that the wrong nozzles had been purchased before his arrival and they needed replacement, as well as an expensive repair to one of the fire trucks and additional fire department wages. Also, Haddad said, money needs to be transferred in order to conduct an audit of receipts from the Transfer Station.

He expressed concern with the legal budget and said he needed another $30K to get through the remainder of the year. One expense alone is the estimated $32,000 bill for legal fees for the Planning Board to sue the Zoning Board of Appeals regarding the ZBA ruling on a building on Lost Lake Drive.

Groton Herald

Mailing Address
P.O. Box 610, Groton, Massachusetts 01450
 

Office
145 Main Street, Groton, Massachusetts 014510
[Prescott Community Center]
 

Telephone: 978-448-6061
 

Comment Here