| Joanne Cole, NGX |
The budget committee sprinted to the finish on Thursday March 5 with a flurry of 6-0 votes on more than a dozen accounts. By then committee members had revisited and made recommendations on parks and recreation, paving, capital reserves and capital expenditures, and more, on the way to wrapping up a fourth three-hour meeting on the FY21 budget.
At the request of interim town manager Paul First, the committee returned to an earlier decision to lower the cap on merit raises from 3 to 2.5 percent; they voted to leave it at 2.5 percent. They did, however, restore a proposed $5000 cut in the public works wage line, as First had hoped. The committee reversed course on other accounts but not their recommendations to restore the assistant librarian position and library hours and to cut the fire/rescue budget by nearly $200,000. For now at least, those stand.
The committee reconvenes on Monday March 16 at 7 pm for a public hearing at the meetinghouse. So that the public can prepare, a detailed budget breakdown will be shared online later this week, likely by Thursday March 12, according to recorder Sharlene Myers. Immediately after the public hearing, the budget committee will finalize their recommendations for the select board.
Parks and recreation was another account that turned up again on Thursday, specifically the director’s hours and a $10,000 line for maintenance of fields. Citing “what we’re facing” in the budget overall, committee chair Peter Bragdon floated the idea of reducing the parks and rec director position to 24 hours/week, its level last year.
Bragdon noted that the jump from part-time to full-time was supposed to largely pay for itself through expanded programming and increased fee revenues. That has yet to pan out, Bragdon said, as a possible $63,000 gap looms this year. Following discussion, those who urged giving the program another year prevailed. The committee left in place an earlier decision to reduce the position from fulltime salaried to 36 hours per week.
As to the $10,000 line for field maintenance, members wondered whether that covers the Rowe Station Road complex or just the fairgrounds. Just the fairgrounds, budget adviser Steve Libby said. Observing that the fairgrounds have hosted large soccer and ultimate frisbee tournaments, committee members urged select board representatives Linda Chase and Karen Gilles, in attendance, to increase fees for non-NG users. Differential fees may prove tricky to refine, however, as parks and rec data indicate that the fields are used for town programs, private programs with participants from New Gloucester and elsewhere, and significantly less by outside groups.
Turning to also revisit capital reserve accounts, Bragdon suggested paring back a $60,000 line slated for a new one-ton dump truck, instead buying a used truck, and tipping $25,000 in savings into fire/rescue capital reserves. Capital reserves are the town’s equivalent of a layaway plan, where taxpayers allocate a lump sum toward big-ticket items that will be needed down the road. The committee had recommended $75,000 go to fire/rescue capital reserves.
Bragdon had reviewed the 10-year fire/rescue vehicle replacement schedule and noticed the discouraging fact that even if voters set aside $100,000 every year over the next decade, the town would still come up $430,000 short. The committee ultimately voted 3-2-1 to recommend that $25,000 be added to top up the fire/rescue capital reserves to a nice, round $100,000. They also voted to keep the full $60,000 for the public works truck.
In another turnaround, the committee put back $36,000 it had sliced from the paving account. The hope is that with the additional funds Chestnut Common might be paved this year, as it’s not simply a matter of ‘pave me now or pave me later.’ The road will need substantial, expensive reconstruction if it isn’t paved soon. Also a factor in the committee’s thinking about paving: the $455,000 in paving requests already on deck for next year. Projects postponed this year only make next year’s queue longer, members said.
One conclusion: the budget committee may already be bracing itself for next year’s budget before this year’s cycle has been put to rest.
The March 16 public hearing on the budget begins at 7 pm at the meetinghouse and will be televised on NGTV cable channel 1302 and video will be archived on the town website.
Video of the budget committee’s March 5 meeting can be viewed here.
