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Date: 4/4/2022
WARREN – As the town of Warren plans for the next fiscal year, the Board of Selectmen reviewed and discussed several budgets during their March 31 meeting.
Barbra Larkin, president of the board of directors at the Warren Public Library, said their budget has increased about 10 percent.
“Most of that is salaries, meeting the minimum wage guidelines and adding a little bit more, and also fuel and electricity,” she explained.
Larkin said they added about $3,000 to building maintenance because they have “a lot of issues” around their historic building that need to be fixed.
This year, the library is spending $500 on COVID-19 related supplies such as masks and more, to keep people safe in the library. This number is significantly less than last year’s COVID-19 spending of $2,200 on supplies, such as plexiglass.
Larkin said although the 10 percent may seem high, they “have a small budget to begin with.”
She noted that similar to most businesses during this time, the library is struggling to find employees based on their salary offerings.
Parks and Recreation
Suzanne Ramsey, Parks and Recreation commissioner, said they have several changes with their budget pay scale, which includes “shifting some of our maintenance.”
Ramsey explained that $4,500 is split between the three commissioners, which hasn’t changed. She added that their park salary is being reduced to $4,000. “Most of our maintenance things will be funded out of our highway budget,” said Ramsey. However, the department still needs to keep some salary to compensate those who assist with events, such as concerts.
Ramsey said park expenses are $12,000, which is roughly the same as past years. Summer recreation expenses are $2,500. The total budget is $26,500.
Town Administrator budget
Jim Ferrera, town administrator, explained that the town administrator position is a contractual one. Therefore, his salary remains the same each year until the contract is up.
With a budget roughly around $4,000 Ferrera said that encompasses a membership into the Small-Town Administrators Association, the Mass Municipal Management Association (MMMA) and more.
Selectmen’s budget
Selectmen David Dufrense said they have “level funded” their legal fees, however, these funds have become low. “There have been some unexpected legal expenses that have occurred, and we need to be able to fund those.”
Ferrera said they have already expended about 78 percent of their funds with a little over $20,000 left in the account with only a few months left. He said it’s important that the town keeps track of outstanding bills and still tries to budget for next year, although “it’s tough to anticipate losses.”
The next Board of Selectmen meeting is set to take place on April 7.