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| By Natasha Clark Reminder Assistant Editor LONGMEADOW The Finance Committee last week discussed agenda items for their upcoming meeting with the Select Board. Finance Committee Chair Judd Peskin said the meeting was initiated by Select Board member Paul Santaniello, a former member of the Finance Committee. He said Santaniello feels there should be more communication between town committees. Later in the meeting Mark Barowsky said that the town has not previously had cooperation between departments and that it has resulted in mismangement. One key topic Peskin said he wanted to speak to the Select Board about was spending based on the town's average growth. Peskin said, since 3.1 percent has been the average growth of Longmeadow over the years, that the town should, on average, spend the same yearly. "The town ought to make every effort to live within its means," Peskin said, adding that the closer the town stays within spending of that percentage, "the smaller the individual overrides will be and the longer they'll last." Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk said that up to $400,000 is needed to balance the town budget, and potentially up to $625,000 when it is time to pay teacher step increases. The school department is also still in the process of collective bargaining. |