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Date: 1/24/2023
HATFIELD – The police and fire chiefs met with the Select Board and Finance Committee last week, kicking off the budget planning for fiscal year 2024 (FY24) with very difficult news. Both chiefs see big fiscal increases are necessary to pay for emergency services.
“Most of us are going into this really concerned about what these numbers will look like,” said Diana Szynal, chair of the Select Board. “But, as in most years, there’s certain budgets we already know need some extra attention.”
Board members agreed to direct more attention onto the ambulance services by hiring Municipal Resources Inc. to gather data for future discussions and to help determine if contracting for ambulance services would be cheaper. Board member Edmund Jaworski made certain he understood where the consensus was going, considering the new data will not be delivered to the board until August.
“You’re saying we’re going to stay with the current budget, which would include any increases we’ve made for the ambulance service?” Jaworski said.
“I think we’re all in agreement about that,” said board member Brian Moriarty. “The last thing we want to do is increase the service, then [in the next fiscal year} decrease the service.”
Police Chief Michael Dekoschak commented that $2,300 in American Recovery Plan Act funds paid for the salary added to emergency services in FY23, with the balance coming from free cash. He came before the board and committee to came to ask for new big ticket items for the police department, including two new staff members and a new vehicle.
“I gave you a doozy this year,” DeKoschak told the board and Finance Committee members. “I’m asking for a $209,000 increase in next year’s operating budget.”
DeKoschak clarified that his request will fund $65,000 for a new cruiser, which will enable the work of two officers. The salary costs and expenses for the following year would be $143,800.
The increase in staffing and costs is a response to outside pressures. State mandates for police departments now require training part-time officers to the same extent as full-time officers. As a result, the pool of trained officers interested in part-time service has dried up. The shortage has impacted departments all over the commonwealth.
“Low recruitment everywhere,” DeKoschak said. “Boston PD sent a letter to every organization in Massachusetts saying, ‘Sorry, we’re going to start stealing your officers.’”
Last year, Hatfield’s Police Department employed three full-time officers and 11 part-time officers. This year, the force employs three part-timers. Coverage has decreased by eight hours, a full shift of one cruiser, and DeKoschak has been forced to work overtime and holidays, including Christmas.
“Just to maintain that coverage, 16 hours a day, seven days a week,” DeKoschak said, “there’s a substantial cost to that because I’m forced to hire full-time officers.”
DeKoschak acknowledged there was great benefit in having part-timers trained to the same degree as full-time officers. All officers will be equally capable. But DeKoschak’s department is not able to maintain the same level of coverage at current budget levels.
“Times have changed,” DoKoschak said. “What level of services is the town comfortable with?”
Szynal declined to answer DeKoshack’s question for residents, commenting that town officials would put as much information as possible before voters. Discussion revealed the spectre of a budget override came up last year. It may be unavoidable this year.
Discussion of an override, required by state law when a municipal budget increases by more than 2.5 percent year over year, is not a welcome idea for voters. DeKoschak’s departmental increase wasn’t the only difficult news suggesting a big jump in taxes would be necessary. Fire Chief Robert Flaherty also informed the board and committee that his department was also looking at significant new expenses.
“Last year was $183,000 above normal,” Flaherty said. “Our FY24 request is beyond that because I’ve already determined … there’s just not enough people out there. Everyone’s pining for the same paramedics and the same basics, so getting them in here [is] a little more difficult.”
Flaherty told the board and FinCom the department needs to hire two full-time paramedics and two full-time basics to achieve full coverage. Flaherty is the only paramedic working in town now, with the help of four staffers with basic training.
“Can you do contingent funding, like you do for capital overrides?” asked Finance Commmittee member John Wilkes Jr. “You can pass a budget, contingent on an override.”
Finance Committee member Darryl Williams commented that after speaking with the two chiefs, to meet the departmental increases they requested will spend down all of the town’s available free cash. The silence around the room indicated the gravity of the fiscal facts. No decision was reached, the annual budget process still in the early stages, but officials were put on notice of the need to consider a budget override.
“We are at a crossroads,” Szynal said. “Not just emergency services, other departments too, and I think it’s going to be an eye-opening year.”