Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/25/2022
HUNTINGTON — Approximately 75 residents attended a budget forum in Huntington on May 16 to hear Edward Renauld, chair of the Selectboard, explain the reason that the budgets for the public library and ambulance association were put on a Proposition 2½ override vote for the coming fiscal year.
“We haven’t had a budget forum in about five years,” he said.
Renauld said the town was facing a $303,246 budget deficit going into the Town Meeting, “the largest I’ve seen since I’ve been on the board,” adding that number will go up if vocational schools accept Huntington students on a waiting list.
The town has been using free cash and stabilization transfers for a number of years in order to balance the budget, and this year’s free cash was certified lower than anticipated. Renauld said currently there is $240,661 in free cash, most of which will be transferred for the budget, and $787,007 in stabilization, down from $1 million three years ago. Renauld compared the stabilization number to a town savings account, and did not recommend spending it down further.
He said the big hit for Huntington this year is an increase in the percentage of students at Gateway Regional schools from the town, resulting in a 6.99 percent increase in the district assessment, and a 10 percent increase in vocational costs.
“Going forward, we need to balance the budget. One of the tools the state has given us is a [Proposition] 2½ increase. Going forward, we need a new base line,” Renauld said.
Funding the library’s budget of $86,328 and the Hilltown Community Ambulance Association assessment of $58,777 with an override — a property tax increase over the 2.5 percent allowed under state law — would drop the deficit to $158,000. The override would have to be approved by voters both at Town Meeting and in a ballot vote.
“If they pass, both will be fully funded,” Renauld said, adding that taxes would increase by roughly $148 annually for an average home.
He said that the town is obligated to provide emergency medical transportation, so would have to come up with an alternative method to fund the ambulance if the override does not pass, probably out of stabilization.
“If the library doesn’t pass, we would recommend no funding,” Renauld said.
Susan Macintosh, of the Friends of the Huntington Public Library, asked whether the town had considered an across-the-board cut. Renauld said such a cut would not raise the necessary funds.
Library trustee Linda Siska asked why not partially fund the library out of stabilization, along with a Proposition 2½ override.
“We have to raise more money. We need to raise the amount we collect,” Renauld said, adding that even if the override passes, next year the town will start at a $160,000 deficit.
“Everything goes up. If we do not pass 2½ override, then next year, we’ll lose another department,” Renauld said. “The optimistic part of me says, let’s get us closer. This doesn’t get us where we need to be as a town.”
Library Trustee Karen Wittshirk responded to a question of whether the library has money in its accounts that could help. She said that the library cannot use non-taxpayer funds to meet the Municipal Appropriation Requirement (MAR), the required budget to maintain its state certification, which is $86,328.
“Unfortunately, what the state looks for is the MAR — set by a formula by the state. We do have some money, and are under budget for materials. We cannot, even if we were able to — It won’t count towards our certification,” Wittshirk said.
Pegg Dragon asked about town property assessments, which she thought were lagging behind. Renauld said the contracted service, which he thinks is doing a great job, is only required to assess 10 percent of homes a year until a full reevaluation, which will occur next year, when 100 percent of the homes will be reassessed.
Art Cook questioned whether the town is getting an adequate return on investing the stabilization account, and said his organization had a 21.4 percent return on its annuity this year.
“It seems like we could have a better return on investment,” he said.
Treasurer Aimee Burnham explained that there are strict rules governing municipal finance investment, and towns have to go through the state banks of Massachusetts. She said in the past couple of years, with the interest rates so low, Huntington hasn’t shopped around, but will this year.
“It goes back to liquidity. When you take things away out of small budgets, it’s so hard to get them back,” said Burnham. “We really need this 2½ percent override to balance our budget. I think both are such necessary programs for our town.”
Former Selectboard member John McVeigh asked whether a debt exclusion could be used instead of an override. Renauld said the debt exclusion wouldn’t do the town any good, because the override is necessary to raise the levy limit.
Ross Hankerson said he had originally come to the meeting opposed to an override, but felt after listening that the $150 investment was important.
“How many people go to the library because they can’t afford a computer?” he said. He then read from a list handed to him of the monetary value of services provided by the library.
Renauld said the town had to attach the overrides to a specific part of the budget, and the library and ambulance are what the Selectboard and Finance Committee chose. He said residents must vote for the overrides at the June 4 election from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at the annual Town Meeting on June 6 at 7 p.m. in order for them to pass. A special Town Meeting with several financial items is also scheduled on June 6 at 6:30 p.m.
New Finance Committee member Joseph McNeish said they chose the library and the ambulance in part because they are popular services in town.
“One of the reasons we put it on the library is because we felt it’s something people could get behind,” McNeish said, adding, “I hope we get people to pass it.”