After Rochester Finance Director Suzanne Szyndlar said the town needs to cut $300,000 from FY25 to end up with a balanced budget, that goal has been reached and in fact exceeded. At the conclusion of Rochester’s Finance Committee on Monday, Szyndlar said, “$327,921 has been reduced from the FY25 budget, so we are able to make our budget balanced.”

            The town’s overall budget represents a 2.15% increase over FY24, but the town must also deal with a 5.08% increase from the Old Rochester Regional School District. Szyndlar said the Rochester Finance Committee cannot formally approve the town’s budget number for the May 13 Annual Town Meeting warrant until ORR approves its final FY25 budget number this week.

            “The good news is, if the school’s number stays the same, we can balance the budget,” she said.

            To get to that balanced number Monday, Szyndlar and the Finance Committee reduced various previous budget requests: from the registrations account, Szyndlar said, $3,182 was eliminated by reducing 16 hours requested for the town clerk assistant down to 12 hours.

            A Town Hall line item was reduced by $20,000 to a total of $569,970 because some of the hours laid aside to employ Old Colony Vocational-Technical High School students for Town Hall work were not used in last year’s budget.

            The Police Department budget was reduced by $112,491 to $1,705,000 by eliminating a request for a patrol vehicle and several other expense requests, Szyndlar said.

            The Fire Department’s most significant cut was $23,229 to eliminate a request for a part-time, day-time firefighter to work Saturdays and Sundays. The department also cut approximately $9,000 from Red Alert Mobile Dispatch, $4,908 to equipment maintenance, oil heat ($1,000), and medical services ($1,000), totaling a reduction of $42,071.44.

            The Highway Department cut a salary request for an additional worker.

            The Board of Health budget was reduced by $11,025 by shaving off 10 additional hours requested for an administrative assistant.

            The Council on Aging budget was reduced by cutting van-driving hours from 15 to 10 after Szyndlar discovered there had been less usage this year than what the department had anticipated.

            The Rochester Finance Committee will meet next on Tuesday, April 16, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

Rochester Finance Committee

By Mike DeCicco

            The Rochester Finance Committee made significant headway on Monday night in its effort to achieve the town’s half of $600,000 in requested FY25 budget trims, the other half to be made by the Old Rochester Regional School District.

            The committee was not able to nail down the $300,000 in cuts that it seeks, in part because Finance Director Suzanne Szyndlar was unable to attend the meeting. Finance Committee Chairman Kris Stoltenberg has been discussing revenue assumptions for the FY25 Budget with Szyndlar, but some of the details of departmental budget discussions still need clarification.

            “We have been out of whack almost every year, but it’s never been quite that dramatic,” said Stoltenberg of the $600,000 correction prescribed by the committee. “Suzanne has the numbers and they’re pretty hard numbers. Then we fix the budget. She’s done as much as she can on the assumption side for the revenue, so now we work with the departments.”

            On the ORR side of the equation, Town Administrator Glenn Cannon said that the school district, which also includes Marion and Mattapoisett, has already made some recommendations but has yet to “come to the ($300,000) target, so it’s something they’re still working on.”

            According to a Wanderer report on the March 11 public meeting, Rochester Memorial School’s FY25 operating budget proposal represents a 6.63% increase over FY24, and ORR’s proposal represents a 4.84 increase. According to the report, Rochester is sending five fewer students to ORR this fiscal year.

            Stoltenberg was reportedly met with dismay upon letting ORR officials know there is still work to be done to the tune of $300,000.

            “They were a little shocked and surprised at what we were looking for,” said Stoltenberg, acknowledging that, “in the end, we’re part of the Tri-Town community. Any mismatch, we have to look at (Rochester Memorial School). It wasn’t a great experience because they were kind of downtrodden when we left that meeting.”

            During the ORR District’s budget presentations to the school committees, level services have been emphasized.

            The Finance Committee needs to have the FY25 budget ready for the Select Board’s approval by mid-April. The Annual Town Meeting in all three of the Tri-Towns is scheduled for Monday, May 13.

            On Monday, the Finance Committee verified plans for FY25 budget cuts with the Police, Fire and Highway departments.

            The most complex of issues brought to the committee by a department head on Monday was Fire Chief Scott Weigel’s plan for a 5%, across-the-board net increase in wages for his employees, who are all part-time workers on a call basis. His department request is variable, based on 5% minus the town’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

            Cannon confirmed that the Select Board last week voted to approve a 2.5% COLA for FY25, but he said the board could still alter that number before the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting is finalized. A 2.5% COLA would mean that Weigel wants a 2.5% in-department increase to achieve a net 5% increase.

            Weigel explained that as it currently stands, a part-time firefighter can earn $31 or $32 per hour in surrounding towns as opposed to $26 per hour in Rochester.

            “We’re trying to be competitive; you have to be competitive in order to keep people,” he said. “We’re trying a dollar and change (increase) just so I can be competitive and keep people we have. I’m just trying to be in line with everybody else.”

            Stoltenberg told Weigel he will follow up on the matter with Szyndlar with the understanding that no agreement has been made.

            Weigel’s most significant cut ($23,229.44) was a request for a part-time, daytime firefighter to work on Saturdays and Sundays. He confirmed other FY25 departmental budget cuts, including approximately $9,000 related to the red-alert mobile dispatch (computer system), $4,908 in EMS-related equipment maintenance, oil heat ($1,000), medical services ($1,000) and other areas totaling $42,071.44.

            “We asked the chief to cut $40,000 from his budget so he exceeded (the request),” said Cannon.

            Highway Surveyor Jeff Eldridge confirmed plans to cut to forestry and snow/ice-removal areas. He also canceled several requests to bring his budget back to FY24 levels. He had requested a full-time mechanic in FY24 ($62,000); that request was cut before it reached voters, and plans to add it this year were scrapped.

            Eldridge indicated that a $5,000 cut from a $20,000 request for the replacement of equipment and a $17,000 cut in snow/ice treatment may steer him toward the Capital Planning Committee.

            Stoltenberg suspects that a canceled $79,000 request from the Police Department for a replacement vehicle will succeed as a capital item.

            Other departments helping reach the $300,000 goal include the town clerk (removing a request in clerical hours from 12 to eight, a $3,408 cut); Planning (removing $500 clerical and $300 cleaning costs); Town Building (down $10,000 – Cannon said that Facilities Manager Andrew Daniel is in the loop); Health (insurance was overbudgeted, according to Stoltenberg, a $46,000 cut, and $10,500 more after a plan to increase administrative hours was scrapped).

            Stoltenberg said that with Monday’s agreements, the bottom line adds up to $275,358 in FY25 budget cuts. He didn’t necessarily consider the figure to be short of the goal, considering there is still work ahead in finalizing revenue estimates and ironing out details. The exact shortfall is not known.

            A much larger matter is the question of how much of the $300,000 to be cut from the schools budget will affect Rochester Memorial School as opposed to Rochester’s share of the ORR Junior or Senior High School budgets.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Finance Committee will be scheduled for Monday, April 1, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

Rochester Finance Committee

By Mick Colageo

            Carlos and Jennifer Varnum may add a two-story garage and expand their house at 534D Point Road, but a by-right project became a public hearing for a special permit all because of a breezeway.

            The only case heard by the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals on March 14 was a “quirky” one by Building Commissioner Bob Grillo’s estimation because the breezeway connecting the garage to the existing house triggered the application of Section 230-6.1 e (1) of the Marion Zoning Bylaw that limits the height increase of an existing structure to 10%.

            The bylaw allows the reconstruction, extension or change of a nonconforming single and two-family house with the approval of the building commissioner provided the alteration does not increase the nonconformity.

            “The reason it requires a special permit is because they’re increasing the height by more than 10 percent, and they’re increasing the height of the existing building by more than 10 percent because it’s attached,” explained Grillo, who offered the applicants the option of going without the breezeway and, given its conforming setbacks, thereby canceling the need for a special permit. “They could have that same structure in the same spot and it wasn’t attached, it’s by right. But because it’s attached, in essence they’re increasing the size of the existing structure by more than 10 percent.”

            Representative Chris Leaver of New Bedford-based Turowski2 “T2” Architecture presented on the Varnums’ behalf.

            Leaver said that the attached garage, at 24 feet and 8 inches, will exceed the height of the house (19.5 feet at its peak) by more than the allowable 10%. A second part of the project will expand the house in the back but will not add to the height of the house.

            Marion’s height limit is 35 feet.

            Leaver said that the second floor of the garage will be used for storage. He said the owner’s business results in many boxes. He said current plans call for an unfinished interior.

            “At this current point, it is not going to be looked at as any kind of other or additional living dwelling. It is strictly for storage,” said Leaver, who clarified by adding there is no plumbing or heating in the plan.

            Being a Special Permit application and not a variance, the owner did not need to prove hardship. Leaver referenced a meeting with the Conservation Commission that made comments regarding where an existing shed can be located. There were no comments from neighbors.

            Member Will Tifft asked about overall lot coverage. Leaver did not have that information on hand but considers it a small increase percentage-wise because of the size of the lot. Grillo said the 40% lot-coverage limit does not apply to a ZBA application that is not seeking a variance.

            “If for some reason when they come in for the permit, I’ll be asking for (lot coverage), and if it doesn’t match that number, I won’t issue the building permit, and they would have to come back (to the ZBA) for a variance),” said Grillo.

            Along with Tifft, Chairperson Cindy Callow and members Dani Engwert, Joan Gardner and Jeff Doubrava voted unanimously to grant the Special Permit.

            The Marion Zoning Board of Appeals did not schedule its next meeting upon adjournment.

Marion Zoning Board of Appeals

By Mick Colageo