Individual department heads will come before the board in the coming moths with their budget requests.
Longmeadow selectmen Paul Santaniello, Mark Barowsky and Mark Gold, from left, are three of the five Longmeadow Select Board members who called for zero based budgeting Monday night.LONGMEADOW - The Select Board unanimously voted Monday night to use zero based budgeting in building the spending plan for fiscal 2014.
Board members met Monday night to discuss the budget process and what they will require from department heads.
Chairman Paul Santaniello said he supports zero based budgeting which is also what the town did last year.
Zero based budgeting requires department heads to create a level service budget based on what they spent last year.
Member Mark Barowsky agreed with zero based budgeting, but expressed concerns about the School Department and Parks and Recreation Department getting extra revenues.
Barowsky said that if the departments receive extra revenues, due to user fees or federal or state money, then each department's overall general fund budget should be reduced.
"We should have a mechanism in place so that if a particular department gets additional revenues, the money they get from the general fun will be reduced," he said.
Selectman Mark Gold said he would agree with a policy that would reduce a department's general fund allocation if they received additional revenue.
However, I do not think that is within the scope of the motion regarding the budget process, he said.
Individual department heads will come before the board in the coming moths with their budget requests.
Santaniello said if a department needs additional funds they will have to provide the reasoning behind that.
"They will come in and tell us how much they need to run the department. If they need more they will come in with an impact statement and tell us 'here's what it means if we don't have this money,'" Santaniello said.
Voters will approve the town budget during the annual Town Meeting in May.