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Date: 3/28/2023
LEVERETT — Selectboard Chair Tom Hankinson summarized the process for building the fiscal year 2024 town budget by establishing the numbers driving the town’s anticipated budget increase.
“Two guidance numbers … were arrived at,” Hankinson said, referring first to the cost of living adjustment, “which is 4.5%, and a possible budget increase of 5% within individual departments. It was based on those guidances … that the town went about working up their budget.”
After Hankinson forecasted a significant budget increase he turned the meeting over to Phil Carter, a Finance Committee member who cut to the chase. Carter marked line items and sections with increases that he thought would prompt questions. The meeting was scheduled to allow residents to grill the Selectboard and Finance Committee on any of the details of the budget before it is finalized for Town Meeting.
The first of Carter’s marked items, an increase of $10,000 to the salary of Town Administrator Margie McGinnis, was a recommendation of the Personnel Board. McGinnis served the town well for 20 years, with high praise for her performance, yet earned a below average paycheck among area town administrators. The increase drew a smattering of applause.
Expenses for the tax collector went up $4,000 because the VADAR software package has a subscription fee.
Library salaries in the proposed budget will increase 6.4%, due to a decision by the Personnel Board to allow part-time employees among the stacks. Hannah Paessel, library director, explained the change to part-timers will save on full-time labor costs.
“We can use the setup of the building to close the door as they leave,” Paessel said, “so we don’t have to pay a staff member to stay there, after hours.”
The proposed operating budget of the elementary school will increase 4.9%, though notes in the margin warned that another $15,000 in employee benefits costs will be added later. Carter said he marked the item because it’s the single largest piece of the budget, with the education section proposed to receive $4.5 million of a $7.15 million proposed budget.
While comments by Finance Committee members suggested they are comfortable with the increase in the school budget, Hankinson mentioned that he researched yearly increases in the town budget as a whole.
“I went back over the years and looked at the percent change of the total town budget, back to 2004,” Hankinson said. “It’s around 3.25 to 3.5%” per year. His comment offered a frame of reference for the proposed budget increase.
Carter also marked the police department as a probable topic for discussion because the budget includes a section called “Wendell Police.” The many details of the arrangement to supply police services to the neighboring town, and the department’s hope to budget for a fourth full-time officer, are new and complicated. That prompted Carter to turn the discussion over to Police Chief Scott Minkler.
Minkler argued in favor of a fourth full-time officer for several reasons, one being that part-time officers are forced to attend the Bridge Academy to receive training to the same standards as full-time officers. Minkler said that a third of part-time officers across the state refused to meet the new requirements and left law enforcement. The part-time officers that remain, at least in Leverett, seem not to want shifts.
“Adding a fourth full-timer, we can cover some of our open shifts, the open areas we have,” Minkler said, “especially now that we’re contracting with the town of Wendell … We’re guaranteed 40 hours a week with that full-timer, where a part-timer I can put shifts out but I can’t make then take anything.”
Discussion revealed that a fourth full-time officer will spend roughly half the week patrolling in Wendell. That officer can respond back to Leverett, if necessary. Wendell’s proposed police budget will be $79,484. That amount will be paid by Wendell and appear as income on Leverett’s balance sheet.
Minkler explained that eventually call volumes will better inform some of the decisions regarding charges and scheduling under the agreement between the towns. Sufficient data hasn’t accrued yet, though Minkler confirmed that a large increase in calls has occurred. The police chief said call volumes have reached about 4,400 a year between the two towns.
Finance Committee members went thoughtfully silent when Minkler clarified that the Wendell police budget will be partially subsidized by Leverett under the proposed budget. The agreement between towns allows for a three year transition in which Wendell will eventually assume full responsibility for its own policing costs.
“We’re in the third year of the agreement,” Minkler said. “We didn’t want to give them sticker shock. They should be paying $95,000 … but we agreed to do a step program. Its $17,000, $18,000 less than what they should pay.”
“Why are we subsidizing them?” asked Nancy Grossman, a FinCom member.
“We don’t want the agreement to go away over this,” Minkler said, “because this will benefit the town of Leverett.”
Nobody asked what those benefits would be.
The discussion turned to the fire department budget, which shows proposed increases of 32.7%, 80% and 22.5% in response pay, training costs and brush fire callouts respectively. The proposed budget for the department bumps up by 6.5%; but Fire Chief Brian Cook then asked that the chief position be funded for a full-time salary.
Cook wanted to broach the subject first with a larger body, but Finance Committee members balked this late in the budget process. Members commented the Personnel Board should see the proposal for a full-time fire chief before they did. Jed Proujansky of the Finance Committee voiced agreement with the idea of a full-time fire chief and suggested incorporating $30,000 to provisionally budget for the increase in hours — but other town officials plainly wanted Cook to lay more groundwork.
“I’m not opposed to this, but it gets frightening when...we need another full-time officer, we need a full-time fire chief … and I’m very aware we’re stewards of the town’s finances,” said Grossman. “I’m hoping it settles down to a dull roar in the next few years.”
Heating costs for the Field Library building also surfaced. Fuel costs went up for most every department. More heat is needed in the Field Library to prevent further mold damage, but following departmental procedures was also sited as a reason to delay making a decision on those expenditures and who should pay them.