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Date: 2/22/2022
HADLEY – The Tri-Board convened on Feb. 16 for a joint meeting where Town Administrator Carolyn Brennan presented the first look at the fiscal year 2023 budget. The Tri-Board is assembled from the Select Board, the Finance Committee, and the School Committee as all three parties work directly on the town’s budget. Only the Select Board and Finance Committee were present in this meeting.
While this was only an initial draft of the budget that could be brought to the Annual Town Meeting in May, Brennan told the Select Board and Finance Committee that there have been ongoing staffing challenges for small-town police departments, including within their own, as four officers have left the department over a recent three-month period for better salaries.
This has made town officials consider an increased investment into public safety that is reflected in the first look at the budget. Brennan added that when officers leave the town, there are major costs that come up through training costs in order to find replacements.
“We are seeing extremely high turnover. We’ve got to address that,” Brennan said. “That is one of my areas of concern is where our public safety is with wages and the culture right now. It’s a very difficult environment to be working in right now and mandates from the state are going to be coming up for training and for officers so it’s something we are going to be continuing to address.”
Select Board member Joyce Chunglo added this was a goal of hers to address as well. Chunglo is the Public Safety Department liaison for the board.
Brennan also mentioned that she has heard from other towns, small towns specifically, issues of turnover in public safety staffing. She said the state’s police reform bill has mandated more trainings and requirements to meet but no funding offered to assist towns like Hadley in moving toward these new changes.
“It’s very stressful right now for the police officers as well. We lost four officers in three months and they’re going to higher paying towns and not easy towns to work in,” Brennan said. “It’s a huge cost for Hadley to bring on a new officer, train them, get them in the academy, do the mentoring, do the certifications, it’s a significant cost to the town. We will need to address this as a town, we just need to find a solution, but right now this is what we could fit in the budget.”
Brennan said for the budget in general, that from speaking with the many departments and boards in town on their budgeting that she was able to get a better grasp on what everyone needed and to make the best decisions on the budget.
“We’re going to be good next year. I just asked them what they needed, I didn’t give them any guidelines or a certain percentage,” Brennan said. “There are increases as we have been stagnant for three years and suppressed in trying to match our growth needs to the budget based on the impact of COVID[-19] and I just can’t tell you enough how patient they were so I want to thank them and acknowledge that.”
The current projections show a town budget of $19.42 million, a $1.18 million increase from this year’s $18.25 million budget. Brennan presented a budget that would see a $219,808 increase in wages for police officers, firefighters and emergency dispatchers. The spending would be part of an overall $375,478 increase in public safety spending next year, from $2.95 million to $3.33 million.
In the same effort of public safety, the town would also invest $22,484 in hiring a health agent to provide health inspections to restaurants in town.
The other notable increase in funding for the new fiscal year is $220,672 more going toward education. Brennan reminded those in attendance of the meeting that the School Committee has been “extremely generous” the past two years in funding, so this number is reflecting what the committee has not asked for and what they’ve given back in funds.
The municipal operating budget is $812,938 short of having enough revenues to cover expenses. Treasurer Linda Sanderson said the current thinking is to apply $409,566 from free cash and $400,000 from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) to present a balanced budget to voters come Town Meeting in May.