Mattapoisett’s Finance Committee met with several department heads on February 24 as they review, question, and prepare budgets for the spring town meeting warrant.

Police Chief Mary Lyons brought a budget that she described as having “no real surprises.” She said wage step increases, longevity pay, and career incentives were all annual standard increases. Lyons also said union negotiations will begin on June 30. But regarding the $1.9 million budget, which is up $33,000 over fiscal year 2016, she explained, “It’s what we function on and we make it work.”

Although the evening was not scheduled for capital planning decisions, Town Administrator Michael Gagne asked Lyons to share what she had placed on that list.

Lyons has asked for funding for a new cruiser along with safety traffic signals for use at strategic locations.

The bike path that passes through Mattapoisett Neck Road and Brandt Island Road are dangerous crossings, as previously identified by residents attending Bike Path Committee meetings.

Lyons said a flashing speed limit sign would be beneficial to increasing motorists’ awareness of the pedestrian and bicycling crossings while also alerting them to the speed they are traveling. She also hoped to replace an ancient mobile traffic safety sign to be used at other locations in town on a rotating basis.

Fire Chief Andrew Murray also offered a budget that didn’t alarm the committee. He did note a request for a full-time clerk. Murray said the current position is only funded for 19.5 hours per week, which is not enough to handle the growing demands of the Fire Department.

But Finance Committee Chairman Pat Donoghue replied, “Once you go over 30 hours, you have to pick up $13,000 in benefits.” The Fire Department’s proposed FY17 budget is pegged at $410,114.

Murray was also asked to speak to capital needs.

Murray said it was time to replace the aging hoses.

“The four-inch hose is over 20 years old,” he told the committee. The total cost to replace the hoses is estimated at $28,000. He is also asking for a second thermo-imaging camera at an estimated cost of $3,500.

Rounding out his discussion, Murray said that Engine 2 is nearly 60 percent through massive repairs and upgrades previously budgeted. Once this engine is back, it should have another 15 years of service he concluded.

Harbormaster Jill Simmons presented a budget worksheet that she described as “different” from the standard worksheet used.

Simmons said that she was closing out some line items and adding new ones in an effort to have better control over spending and accounting for those expenditures. New on the worksheet were such line items as boat maintenance and repairs, boat fuel, dock and float repairs, and pump out expenses. Previously, those types of expenses were rolled into less specific categories, which made it difficult to understand where and how monies were being spent, Simmons said.

The FY16 budget had been $190,342 while the FY17 budget comes in at $249,990.

The harbormaster’s list of capital needs includes $19,000 for repair and replacement of pilings on Long Wharf and $80,000 for dredging between Long and Holmes wharves.

Also present that evening was Highway Superintendent Barry Denham, whose reams of documents helped to illustrate the demands made on his department.

“I’m trying to leave a history for my replacement,” said Denham.

With a budget slightly north of half a million dollars, the Highway Department answers the call in all kinds of weather and for all kinds of assistance.

Denham produced a report that detailed the number of hours and associated costs when his team is dispatched to provide services to the Recreation Department, Natural Resources, Board of Health, Fire Department, harbormaster, Police Department, public schools, town hall, tree warden and, last but not least, the Water Department.

Between July 2015 and February 2016, the Highway Department had clocked in 2,215 hours in aiding other town departments. When asked if his department was reimbursed by the other town departments needing the services of the Highway Department he replied, “I eat it. It comes out of my budget.”

“I need a full-time clerk,” Denham told the committee members. He said there is so much filing and paperwork it can’t be handled in 19.5 hours per week.

When it was suggested by a committee member that he simply hire another part-time clerk, Denham said it really wouldn’t solve the problem because, “We need someone who knows the work … for continuity in the office.”

Again, Donoghue noted the employee benefits associated with adding full-time positions.

Denham also discussed the snow removal budget. He said that, although it has been a mild winter, his team had been out treating roads 17 times. He explained that he is using a combination of straight salt and liquid deicing products to save money and to keep roadways more ice-free. He said this product also helps to eliminate the need for cleaning sand out of catch basins in the spring.

While discussing town roads that are gravel versus asphalt, he was asked if there were any plans to pave the town’s 16 miles of dirt roads.

“We have to get the asphalt roads on a repair schedule before we talk about putting asphalt on dirt roads,” said Denham.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Finance Committee is scheduled for March 2 at 6:30 pm at the Mattapoisett Town Hall.

By Marilou Newell

Reps from the Town of Rochester drew a bold bottom line on its assessment of the Old Rochester Regional School District’s operations and management budget of $17.5 million for fiscal year 2017, saying the Town cannot afford the school budget’s increase of almost 3 percent over last year.

During a February 29 ORR budget meeting that included selectmen, town administrators, and Finance Committee members from the three towns, Rochester Board of Selectmen Chairman Richard Nunes commented after a lengthy discussion that ORR is “not living within [its] means.”

“The three towns have to live within their budget. They have to balance their budget every year,” said Nunes, mentioning that ORR has more than once used funds from its Excess and Deficiency Account (rainy day savings) to offset the budget, which it can no longer afford do. “If you keep stacking the deck and you keep using high figures then this is where we are…. [The budget] just keeps growing and growing and growing and you’re not making the necessary cuts.”

Having been the first time the word ‘cut’ was mentioned, the discussion quickly escalated.

“Do you want a level-one school?” shot back ORR School Committee Chairman Paul Goulet. “You’re talking about kids! These aren’t wants,” Goulet said with the budget in his hand. “These are needs that have been pushed aside, pushed aside, pushed aside!”

Much of the school district’s budget increases stem from rising costs of insurance and retirement, as Mattapoisett Finance Committee Chairman Patricia Donoghue pointed out.

“It’s not like they’ve been adding things,” Donoghue said. “There are certain costs that have been really killing ORR that are beyond their control….”

Nunes said the Town of Rochester could only go as high as a 2.5 percent increase over FY16. Rochester faces an increase in last year’s assessment, with FY17 totaling $4,559,316. Marion is facing a total of $4,877,513, and Mattapoisett is looking at $3,946,403.

Nunes said Rochester only has about $400,000 to divvy up amongst its town departments and cannot afford the increase in the Rochester portion of the ORR budget.

“We can’t support the [$270,000],” said Rochester Finance Committee Chairman Kristian Stoltenberg. “Our revenue won’t cover it…. This truly is a difficult budget.” He later said that even if the budget went down to the 2.5 percent increase, Rochester’s ideal increase would be 2 percent.

Stoltenberg continued, “So it’s pretty drastic. We can sit here and talk about it … but that’s the reality.”

“We all have the same reality,” said Marion Finance Committee Chairman Alan Minard.

“And the reality is we have more students coming in,” said ORR and Rochester School Committee Chairman Tina Rood.

Stoltenberg said that all Rochester could do was hope voters would approve a Proposition 2½ override to offset the cost of implementing the ORR five-year strategic plan.

Superintendent Doug White listened to the discussion and chewed his pen. He said he was looking for direction, for someone to say where the three towns would go from there.

“I think we need to locally deliberate how we’re going to approach this and deliberate which road we’re going to take,” said Mattapoisett Town Administrator Michael Gagne.

Mattapoisett Selectman Paul Silva looked for a consensus amongst the three towns on whether they at least support the school district’s use of money it saved by refinancing on a loan to borrow on to fund the next five years of its capital needs, but there was no definitive response.

The three towns agreed to return to deliberate at the local level and inform White on their conclusions within 10 days, in time for a final budget presentation.

By Jean Perry