The town’s estimate of how much money it will need to operate next fiscal year dropped slightly last week, but a substantial deficit remains and getting rid of it will be painful.
Town Administrator Tim Bragan told Finance Committee members last week that because the cost of health insurance next year will be lower than expected and revenues from local receipts higher, the estimated deficit had narrowed from roughly $400,000 to $272,000. Massachusetts requires that number to be zero, but so far the thought of asking taxpayers to approve a Proposition 2 1/2 override is not on anyone’s radar.
The Feb. 13 upper Town Hall meeting was the first for Finance Committee members since the Select Board tossed them an unbalanced budget the previous week. All but two members were present, and after hearing updates from Community Preservation Committee Chair Didi Chadran and Capital Planning and Investment Committee Co-chair John Seeley, their discussion turned quickly to the cuts Bragan had recommended to the Select Board a week earlier.
Bragan told the group that when all the numbers are in, he expects a deficit of approximately $300,000 to remain. He has proposed that several department requests amounting to $90,070 be denied or postponed. He said that another $75,552 could be saved by dropping several small warrant articles, including $28,000 to shift payment for lifeguards at the beach to taxpayers and $25,500 to pay operating costs for a second COA van. Several requests for new IT equipment and software, said Bragan, could be paid for with some of the $1.2 million fiscal 2018 free cash recently certified by the state rather than next year’s taxes. These cuts would trim a total of $165,622 from the deficit, leaving the rest to be found elsewhere, Bragan said. He said he would recommend the school budget be tapped for what’s left—essentially splitting the deficit between nonschool and district requests—and that he had warned Superintendent Linda Dwight such a request could be forthcoming.
Threat to van funding draws fire
Bragan’s proposal to cut funding for a second COA van has already drawn fire. Before Wednesday’s budget discussion began, Hank Fitek of the Friends of the Council on Aging and Beth Williams, co-chair of the COA board of directors, urged during public comment that the $25,500 be kept as a warrant article. Williams said that last year the COA provided seniors with 2,808 rides using the existing van but that Harvard Help, a volunteer organization, had to provide an additional 325 rides because the van was not available when needed. She said the number of van rides requested this year compared to the same eight months in fiscal 2018 has increased by 500 and that Harvard Help has had to cover 86 of those. Fitek and Williams said the Friends of the COA, which is raising money for the purpose, will be ready to purchase a second van with donated dollars “right after Town Meeting.” They urged the committee to support their request for money to maintain and run it.
Bragan argued that approving an operating budget before the van is purchased is putting the cart before the horse, or, as he put it last Wednesday, the coffee before the cup. Until the van is purchased, he said, appropriating $25.5K for the service will force cuts elsewhere in the budget. Besides, he asserted, the request does not conform with the expectations set by the Select Board in its October budget letter to department heads, boards, and committees, which asked for a “level-service budget.” Once approved, he warned, the amount will permanently increase COA’s annual budget, a recurring cost to taxpayers.
But FinCom member Bruce Nickerson wasn’t having it. Looking straight at a Press reporter in the room, Nickerson said he wanted to go on the record as strongly disagreeing with Bragan’s position. “I’ve been a Harvard Help driver, and I know what’s involved there,” he said. “If we say no, that would probably kill the effort to get a van, and that would be a disaster.” To tell the Friends of the COA “you buy the van, then we’ll decide,’’ was “completely the wrong way around,” said Nickerson. The worst that can happen if the money is approved and the van not purchased, is that the town ends up with extra free cash at the end of the fiscal year, he said.
Missing the point?
“You’re missing the point that if the money isn’t spent, you’re cutting someone else’s budget,” countered Bragan.
“Frankly, if we’re talking $25,000,” replied Nickerson, “I’m perfectly happy asking the schools to come up with $25,000,” if it’s not available someplace else. The schools have $15,000 in their budget for the busing that will be needed during construction of the elementary school, he observed. How come the schools can add to their budget but COA can’t? he asked.
That’s because the town has no say about how the schools spend their money, replied Bragan. The COA request went beyond the level-service budget requested by the Select Board, he said, repeating his observation that appropriating $25,500 to operate the van would be a permanent increase to the town’s budget. He said the budget memorandum to which the Finance Committee had agreed stated clearly that special requests would be honored only if money is available. “This is a new item they would like to have,” said Bragan. It does not comply with budget guidelines and was not part of the COA’s operating budget, he said.
But Nickerson had the last word that evening in a conversation that is likely to continue. “I don’t agree with you,” he said. “As you know perfectly well, a certain number of citizens can put this before Town Meeting as a citizen warrant,’’ he continued, adding that a warrant article is something that will be approved by the town, “not by us. The budget document said departments could ask for something extra, Nickerson concluded, “and they did.’’
Nickerson moving on
Nickerson himself will not be part of the continuing discussion about funding of a new COA van and other financial decisions that loom before the committee. After the meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m., Nickerson told his colleagues that he would be submitting a letter of resignation, telling committee members that following a trip to Tahiti, he and his wife are moving to a retirement community in Lexington. “I’ve enjoyed being on this committee very, very much,” he said.
Before adjourning, committee members voted to skip their scheduled Feb. 20 meeting and convene again Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. By then they hope to know how much they will need to budget for Monty Tech and for the town’s membership in Nashoba Valley Regional Dispatch District, the two remaining unknowns in this year’s budget worksheet.
