Voters will have the final say at the annual Town Meeting in May regarding the cuts.
Gretchen E. NeggersMONSON – Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers explained how “a perfect storm of bad budget news” translated into $124,000 in proposed cuts, including reducing hours for some staffers, at the selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday.
A 16.5 percent increase in health insurance costs, which amounts to $300,000, along with the rising cost of fuel and a costly winter, all contributed to the deficit for fiscal 2012, Neggers explained.
Neggers, who scoured the budget with Finance Director Deborah A. Mahar to look for places to save, said the town is facing serious challenges and has been in the cutting mode for far too long. They initially were looking at a deficit of $129,000, but changed the figure as they studied the budget.
Neggers said they also are assuming that $22,000 for Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School’s capital projects will not be funded. If it is, that would boost the deficit to $146,000.
Voters have the ultimate say on the proposed cuts at the annual Town Meeting on May 9.
Under the proposal, the cemetery director, cemetery laborer, parks and recreation director and parks and recreation laborer would see their hours cut from 40 a week to 35. That saves a combined $20,180.
The commissioners for each department could choose other areas to take the money from, however.
Parks and Recreation Director Timothy J. Pascale, who attended the meeting, said he is glad the commission will have a chance to weigh in, and added that he is not in favor of cutting the department’s only skilled labor. Pascale said there are seasonal employees whose hours could be reduced.
Other reductions include cutting $2,310 from the town clerk’s budget, which would change the assistant town clerk’s hours from 33 to 30 hours a week, and $2,720 from Board of Health, reducing that clerk’s hours from 34 to 31 hours a week.
In some cases, such as with police salaries ($5,000), collector’s office ($3,000), and animal control ($1,000), the budget requests were found to exceed the projected need, Neggers said.
Other cuts include: $5,000 from police expenses; $12,000 from emergency dispatch (an E911 grant is being used instead); $1,000 from assessors; $1,000 from the building department, where a budget line item for a part-time inspector is never used; $500 from emergency management, eliminating the expense account; $4,000 from school transportation; $25,000 from the highway department because Chapter 90 road repair funds are being used to offset salaries; $4,000 from the Council on Aging (the reduction is up to the department head); $7,000 from the library (reduction also up to the department head); and $28,000 in capital expenses.
Neggers reduced school transportation by only $4,000, instead of $80,000 as the Finance Committee had wanted, because she was concerned that if the School Department is unable to buy new buses again this year, it could prove to be a costly mistake if one or more buses broke down.
The $80,000 would fund three new buses. There are 16 in the fleet, and the newest date back to 2005, the oldest to 1999.