Finance Board reviews budgets and Town Meeting articles
Published on April 12th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - At a meeting last Monday the Finance Board supported adding a Deputy Chief and a full-time Fire Prevention Officer to the Stoneham Fire Department.
An additional firefighter will be hired to keep the number of men on the floor at 28 because the Fire Prevention Officer will focus on outreach and education, not emergency response.
"The community police program has been successful," said Finance Board member John Warren. "We want to try the approach with the fire department."
The Finance Board also put its support behind several articles of the May 1 Town Meeting.
The board supported transferring $25,000 into the Stabilization Fund, spending another $100,000 (for a total of $450,000) to rebuild the DPW garage, spending $50,000 to buy new lights, setting aside $10,000 for the beautification of Stoneham, and accepting the rest of Hall Road as a public way.
Paying once to buy the streetlights will save money for the town in the long run.
"It's like in the old days when people rented phones from the phone company and always had that monthly rental charge added on the service bill," said Finance Board Chairman Richard Gregorio. "Now we just pay once to buy the phones. Same here with the lights."
Most of the beautification dollars are going to Lindenwood Cemetery.
The Board also chose not to support Article 8, a request to complete the townwide drainage survey.
April 6 meeting:
With spring Town Meeting just around the corner, the Finance Board continued its preparation last Thursday night with review of warrant articles and budgets in time for the May 1 meeting.
The board voted to defer to the selectmen on Article 9 regarding consolidation of the Unicorn Committee, Open Space Committee and Youth Commission, but not before lengthy discussion which included hearing from representatives from two of those committees.
"The Unicorn Committee has been functioning as a very effective board for many years," said Therese DiBlasi, Vice-Chairman of the Unicorn Recreation Area Committee, speaking in opposition to merging the committees into what she called "one great, big board."
In addition, DiBlasi stated the committee maintains good working relationships with other committees to accomplish various projects.
"We've always been open to things brought to us. We've never blocked others requesting allegiance or follow-through on projects."
"To see it broken up... does not seem feasible for most of us," she added.
On the other hand, Denise Healy and Chris Abreau from the Youth Commission supported the establishment of a combined committee and reported that all seven members of the commission had previously voted in favor of the article.
"It would be easier to have it all together - the youth programs and the Unicorn's resources," Abreau said.
According to Finance Board member Barbara MacLeod, Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting stated at a previous Board of Selectmen meeting that the intention of the article was not to impact existing programs but rather to combine the town's recreational piece, similar to the structure utilized in other towns.
In consideration of its deferment, the Finance Board pointed out that the article posed no financial impact to the town budget.
Library Director Hugh Williams made his annual appearance before the board also on Thursday, explaining his $660,900 budget for FY 2001, and described why he believes Stoneham's library remains "an extraordinary bargain."
The library book budget is still recovering from lack of funding in the early 1990s, Williams said. The proposed budget calls for a $5,000 increase for a total $95,000 for books in FY 2001.
Stoneham spends less than surrounding communities on its library, and Williams said much of that lies in the thoughtful building design which does not necessitate the large staffing other libraries must maintain.
The popular Sunday openings have been another bargain, Williams added, but library hours will likely not expand further at this point.
"We cannot open an additional ... minute without additional funding and staffing."
Williams credited the Friends of the Stoneham Public Library group for its generous contributions and innovative programs which save the library budget from spending money on costly supplies each year, such as printer accessories.
Williams did, however, predict a deficit for the current year in the heating oil budget, estimated at this point at $1,100. A firm number is expected in time for a Special Town Meeting in June.
The library is currently in the third year of its five-year plan established in 1997 and has achieved its goals to this point.
Despite the explosion of the Internet and other media, Williams predicts no reduction in popularity of books.
"They've been predicting the death of the book (since) microfilm came out. It's not going to happen."
The Finance Board unanimously approved this budget.
The Board of Selectmen's budget was also approval but only after the Finance Board rejected a $5,000 request for part-time help.
Committee member Brenda Boyle explained that a 6.25 percent reduction in hours of full-time help was accompanied by a 2.5 percent salary increase in full-time help. The responsibilities sought for part-time help included copying and collating for meetings.
"That (full-time) person should be able to figure out the process so $5,000 part-time help is not needed," Boyle said.
April 10 meeting:
The Finance Board supported the police budget as recommended by the selectmen with $200,000 in overtime, which is more than $50,000 less than the average overtime costs in the last three years.
"We have to decide what we can pay and determine what level of service we can have for that amount," Selectmen Chairman Al Conti said at a previous meeting.
The Finance Board agreed with Conti's logic.
The board disagreed with the Retirement Board's proposal under Article 10, which would have allowed the Retirement Board to grant cost of living increases up to 3 percent on the first $12,000 of individuals' pension dollars without getting Town Meeting approval.
"It's not a big money issue but an argument of principle," Gregorio said. "The people should have control of spending."
The Finance Board OKed $80,000 for a new Zamboni and deferred the Franklin Street zoning change request, Article 14, and the limited hours of construction proposal, Article 13, to selectmen.
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