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Date: 12/28/2021
PELHAM – Prowlers, steeples, schools and pumper trucks were the talk of the town at the recent Capital Planning Committee meeting.
John Trickey, chair of the body that meets every year at the end of December and the Finance Committee, presided over a spreadsheet of capital needs projecting out to 2038. He made it clear that many of the numbers were temporary.
“We don’t have the updated list,” he said. “As we get closer [to Town Meeting] we zero in on what we’re after.”
Police Chief Greg Thomann’s sense of humor had set a light tone. After glancing at the spreadsheet he joked, “Looking at this, we’re going to get a hybrid. They’re a lot more expensive.”
The replacement of the police chief’s cruiser, to be purchased in 2023, was budgeted for $48,000, but the hybrid model will add $6,000. The Ford Expedition, one of two police vehicles, will become the vehicle for Department of Public Works Superintendent Rick Adamcek.
“We get all the life out of them we can get out them,” Thomann said.
The capital needs of the Fire Department showed much larger numbers. Chief Ray Murphy suggested a fiscal struggle was ahead. “The medical vehicle we have now is 14 years-old, so I’m asking because the fight will come up to replace that.” He then commented on the tanker trunk scheduled for 2023 purchase.
“It’s probably gonna be a little more than this,” said Murphy. “We’re not just talking a regular fire truck, we’re talking a tanker truck, which will replace our tanker.”
According to Murphy it will replace two vehicles. The tanker, more expensive than a pumper, has a placeholder of $572,000 in fiscal year 2023 (FY23).
“I’ve been talking $600,000, and I think we should make that decision,” Trickey said. “This may be the point we have to talk dollars and cents, the cash flow.”
Trickey explained that the town instituted a rolling debt exclusion to cover capital expenses about fifteen years ago. That yearly earmark has reached $250,000.
“We have $400,000 in the capital account right now,” Trickey said, “and about $250,000 going in, so we have roughly 650,000 … so we’ll be short if we do the cruiser and fire truck” in 2023.
Murphy hadn’t quite covered his departmental needs. “In 2025, we have replacement of the airpacks. That’ll be $125,000.”
Trickey, the president of the Association of Town Finance Committees, was unruffled by the planning process. “Determine where your cruiser money is coming from, then we look down the road and see what costs are coming in,” he said. “They’re big numbers right now, but I’m confident we can do it.”
Pelham Elementary School needs yearly capital spending, but the numbers are not set in stone. Robert Agoglia, chair of the Selectboard, mentioned the anticipated expense of a new boiler purchase for $155,000 in 2023, “and the rest is the roof.” The anticipated capital spending in FY23 and FY24 reach $635,000.
Again, Trickey was unfazed. “Knowing we were going to be short, we built a cushion of free cash.”
The roof will be 25 years old in 2025. Agoglia said, “The numbers for the regional school are fine. The numbers for the elementary school are a little high.”
The payment to the regional school, a 2022 charge of $26,939, covers debt payments for bonds the district issued to cover capital improvements. That charge drops a couple thousand dollars in 2023, but increases to $27,558 in FY24.
Trickey’s depth of experience with the capital planning process pushed him to get the spreadsheet as complete as feasible.
“There is a new line item: Community Center wood trim repair,” he said. “That’s the money to do the steeple and the windows. I marked it for CPA (Community Preservation Act) money.”
DPW chief Adamcek was familiar with the structure.
“We did a lot of work on the sash up there,” he said. “It’s going to need more attention. The steeple…will probably need to be rebuilt, so that will cost more than $60,000…We’re good for ten years, but the next time around we’ll need some major work.”
Trickey budgeted $250,000 for the project, to be paid out of CPA funds in 2038. Selectboard Chair Agoglia acknowledged the skill with planning that Trickey brought to the tables.
“If we are able to fund all this,” Agoglia said, “thank you.”