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Date: 3/14/2022
LUDLOW – During the Ludlow Board of Selectmen’s March 8 meeting, the board discussed the budget process and the purpose of Town Meeting after members of the board received comments from residents about the process.
Board member Manuel Silva started the conversation by stating residents are the ones who approve the final budget.
“There seems to be a misconception of the budget process; we have a subcommittee that looks at the budget and brings the budget to us with some recommendations and then they ask us for parameters. The budget is not set, the Board of Selectmen do not approve the budget, the budget is approved at Town Meeting. Before it goes to Town Meeting the budget can be adjusted,” he said. “It is not set in stone.”
Silva also recapped the work on the budget that had been completed as of the meeting.
“What we did in the last recommendation by the subcommittee, we went over and found the best possible parameters with the services and personnel we would like to see. We worked them into the budget and came before the Selectmen to show what works and that we stay under the proposition two and a half requirements, we are not over budget, we are actually $86,000 under the levy limit,” he said.
With the parameters set, Silva said the Finance Committee is working within those parameters for the budget.
At the time of the meeting, board Chair Bill Rosenblum said no final decision had been made on the budget yet.
“It seems there is some confusion in the process, we only approved it to move to [the] Finance [Committee] for them to go ahead and meet with department heads, to go ahead and talk it out some more and then come back to us to discuss any ideas they may have or other ways we could approach the budget, then we can hash it out and approve it and send it to Town Meeting,” he said.
At the end of the day, Rosenblum said any major decision falls on Town Meeting.
“Our form of government moves everything to Town Meeting, so Town Meeting is decided by the people. We need to fill the openings in precincts because ultimately the precinct members are the ones who are making decisions on behalf of the town,” he said.
Board Vice Chair Antonio Goncalves said he was happy to see residents discussing the budget process.
“This is a process that has been going on for several weeks and will continue right up to the day or two before Town Meeting, there is a lot of moving parts but it is exciting to see anybody talking about this because in my experience being on the board it is the quickest $75 million I have ever seen spent in my life, it takes about five times longer to read the item lines than it does to discuss and approve it, so it is good to see people involved,” he said.
Board member Derek DeBarge said he was in favor of a complete rearrangement of town government.
“You cannot pass a budget our size with no questions and then have multiple, multiple, multiple questions on something agricultural. I am not knocking any of that, but I am talking about a $75 million budget that had not one question on any line item,” he said. “The form of government we have is Town Meeting and I think that form of government needs to be changed because of lack of participation and a lack of progression in our town because of the slow process of our government.”
With a new town administrator incoming, DeBarge added it was time to further discuss the town’s current governmental process.
“I think this is a good time for that discussion with finance, the Board of Selectmen, our new town administrator, who is coming from experience from being on a board of selectmen as well. Everybody has ideas that want to benefit everyone in town; we all have the same goal I think we just need to get together and come to an understanding,” he said.
Looking past the current budget season, board member James Gennette said the town will have significant bills to pay in the future.
“We are on the cusp of some major spending, the employee pay rolls are going up and the money that is required to keep people on staff, we are looking at inflation, we are looking at the effects of Ukraine coming up, gas and oil going up, seniors are faced with increasing rents, this is not going to get cheaper,” he said. “We can stave off trying to increase taxes as much as we can, but we are up against a wall here and every department needs money, everybody needs to be prepared because it is going to be tough.”
The board also interviewed three candidates for a vacancy on the Housing Authority Tenant Board before naming Raymond Anderson to the seat.
During the meeting, the board approved a change in manager at Ludlow Tennis Club, making Carolyn Slifkin its new manager before also approving the planned festivities and ceremonies for Memorial Day weekend. The board also approved the contract for new Town Administrator Marc Strange, who began his duties on March 14.
The Ludlow Board of Selectmen next meets on March 22 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the March 31 edition of The Reminder.