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Date: 7/7/2022
SOUTHWICK — Southwick may need to use free cash or available American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to account for a far greater rise in energy prices than was initially anticipated when the fiscal year 2023 budget was put together.
Select Board Chair Russ Fox said during the June 27 Select Board meeting that state agencies are warning about Southwick’s energy needs “doubling” in price, to the point where line items in the now-current budget to account for fuel and energy may no longer be enough to cover the real costs.
“This is a very serious thing, during the budget cycle we never anticipated anything that serious,” said Fox.
Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart said that some of the options the town has are to put a minor freeze on some accounts, use ARPA funds or dip into free cash — unspent money left over from previous budget years — to cover the difference in the budget and projected costs. No plan in particular has been chosen yet, but Stinehart and Fox said that they are “putting all of those tools in the toolbox” to deal with the shortfall.
Fox said it could take the form of a freeze on some line items in the budget that aren’t time-sensitive, and can wait to be implemented.
“Nobody has a crystal ball, that’s the thing about putting a budget together,” said Fox. “But we are putting everyone on notice that we will keep all the tools in the toolbox open.”