Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 1/27/2022
HUNTINGTON — Members of the Board of Selectmen were happy to announce at the Jan. 19 meeting that three residents have volunteered to serve on the town’s Finance Committee, the first time in five years that the town will have a separate committee for this purpose, as the selectmen have been filling both roles.
New Finance Committee members who attended the meeting included Joseph McNeish, a chef with Smith College dining services, and Peter Simko, vice president of investment at Berkshire Bank. Not present at the meeting was Brendan Booth, the other new volunteer. The town is still seeking two more members for the five-person committee.
Selectman Karon Hathaway welcomed the new members to the team. She introduced herself as being in her second term on the board, having previously served on the Planning Board, Zoning and Finance committees.
First-term Selectman Roger Booth, who filled the vacant seat left by Darlene McVeigh, said he previously served on the Finance Committee for nine years in the 1990s.
Chairman Edward Renauld said he is in third full term on the board, and previously served on the Finance Committee when Booth was the chair. Renauld is also the town’s veterans agent, and on the Board of Assessors and the School Committee.
“I spend a lot of time here in town. I really enjoy doing something for the town, and being part of the solution instead of the problem,” Renauld told the new volunteers. He said he got his “feet wet” on the Finance Committee, adding that when he joined, he didn’t know about municipal budgeting.
“The Finance Committee is our balance. If we’re doing the budgets, too, we have no one checking us except at the annual Town Meeting, and with COVID, we’re only getting 60 to 70 people at the meetings,” Renauld said, adding that the Board of Selectmen has been doing all the budgeting for the last five years.
“Even though we’re pretty far along for this fiscal year, we need the help now,” said Booth. He said topics needing attention include long-term planning and how much to save in the stabilization and free cash accounts. “That’s why starting now can really help us,” he said.
Booth said the hearing at which town department heads present their budgets to the board of selectmen is scheduled for March 12, and suggested the new Finance Committee members come to the hearing.
“This coming fiscal year will start in July. We’re a little bit along, even though there are still things you can do,” he said.
Renauld then detailed the town’s financial situation.
“We were $14,000 over our levy limit last year that we had to reconcile,” he said, adding that the town had to do some maneuvering for the state Department of Revenue (DOR) to approve the tax rate, which he called “a challenge.”
“Our goal for this year’s budgeting as we start is to make up that difference. The DOR is not going to let us keep doing this. We have to come up with $14,000-plus. We had a revaluation last year. The tax rate went down $2, but our property values jumped up.”
Renauld said the town was right around the $20 per thousand rate last year, but dropped it a few cents, to around $19.96 per thousand. He said at $20, the state is taking a hard look at the town.
“The last thing we want is for Huntington to go into receivership,” he said, adding that 67 percent of tax dollars go to pay for the schools, which is standard across towns of Huntington’s size.
Renauld said the real budgeting is about to start, and in the past, both the Finance Committee and select board would develop a budget, and then reconcile them. Booth added that in future years he hopes the Finance Committee will be the ones meeting with the department heads. Both selectmen said the committee meets more often this time of year, as the Annual Town Meeting is the first Monday in June, and the budget and warrant items need to be ready and posted no later than the second week in May.
Hathaway clarified that this year the Board of Selectmen will take the lead and have the Finance Committee join them. Renauld said he expects budget matters to come up regularly at selectmen’s meetings until the fiscal 2023 budget is set.
“Going forward, you’ll also be looking as things are being spent — we try to keep an eye on it. That’s where you guys get to be the watchdogs. Just to make sure everybody is balancing out and doing what they said they were going to do,” said Booth.
“If you know anybody else to recruit, that would be wonderful. It would be great to have a couple more members,” Hathaway said, adding, “Thank you guys for stepping up. It’s huge.”