Voters pass budget articles
Published on October 29th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham residents overwhelmingly approved six of seven budget related articles at Monday night's Town Meeting.
The two largest financial articles, Articles Two and Seven, which dealt respectively with $620,000 in mandated repairs to the High School and Middle School and approving an amended $53.5 million budget for Fiscal Year 2004, were approved unanimously by citizens.
At last May's Town Meeting, citizens voted to approve a $55 million budget for FY04. However, according to Finance and Advisory Board Chairman John Warren, town officials should have presented a $53 million budget and mistakenly read aloud the $55 million figure.
Despite the claim that the amended FY04 budget would amount to $53.5 million, Stoneham residents John DeGeorge and former Selectman Darin Leahy questioned several discrepancies on the budget worksheets provided that seemed to indicate the budget would be $56 million.
"You would think we're running the town on $53 million instead of $55 million. But when I look at the real number, and correct me if I'm wrong, it looks like we're increasing the budget to $56 million. Which is correct? I think we're looking at an increase over the estimates we approved back in May," said DeGeorge.
Responding to the confusion, Warren explained that the $56 million figure included appropriations for items being bonded, such as the $620,000 in high school and middle school repairs and the $60,000 pickup truck, that the town would not be wholly responsible for in FY04.
"None of that money is going to be spent in FY04. If the bond is issued in February or March, there's no interest being paid for six months," explained Warren.
Following Monday night's meeting, DeGeorge stood by his assumption that the budget was $56 million and claimed he would have further challenged town officials if he had more time to digest the budget sheets provided at the meeting.
"They come up with some fluky math that makes it look like $53 million. I didn't feel comfortable going one-on-one with them at the time because I wasn't as familiar with the numbers as the authors...Last night proved to me that what they gave last May was not a balanced budget," remarked DeGeorge, who said he is still scrutinizing the figures.
DeGeorge took further issue with the budget information provided at the meeting, characterizing the sheets as "unfair".
"This is not fair what they throw at us. The thing is ridiculous," said DeGeorge.
According to Board of Selectmen Vice-Chair Tony Kennedy, he would characterize the total budget to be $56 million. And while Kennedy admits that the figures can be somewhat confusing, he stood by the worksheets provided by the Finance and Advisory Board.
"You don't want to say that $56 million is the real budget. I think one way to say it is that the total department charges add up to $53 million. Then if you include all the other charges, you end up with $56 million. It's confusing. I know because I was very confused myself," said Kennedy.
At the same time, Kennedy thanked the Finance Board for including all the budget figures, claiming that although it's initially confusing, the numbers do totally break down the budget for 2004.
"I just want to congratulate the Finance Board because they did an exceptional job putting the numbers together. They did a real thorough professional job," Kennedy commented.
Town Accountant Ron Florino agrees. Also saying that the total budget will be $56 million, Florino explained that the town only votes on the departmental operating budget. The remaining $3 million difference, says Florino, includes state charges, assessment fees, and water and sewer charges that are mandated by the state, and thus uncontrollable.
"Yeah, the $56 million is everything we're going to bring in and spend. But the $56 million actually gets reduced by the state charges and the state overlay. We don't have to budget for it because it's nothing we have to pay off. They take it away from us right away when they give us the state charges," explained Florino.
"It's all about how you want to present it. We wouldn't show [all the figures] if we were trying to hide something. If anything, it spells everything out and gives more information than we have to," added Florino.
The remaining budget articles approved appropriated $32,000 for a dump truck with a plow, borrowed $60,000 for a flatbed truck with a skid, and allowed the town to spend approximately $262,000 from the state's chapter 90 fund to repair Stoneham roads.
The town also voted to put $1,081,129 into the town's stabilization or rainy day account. While some town officials such as Warren and Selectman Chairwoman Mary Pecoraro spoke of committing more of the $2.7 million in free cash recently released by the state into the stabilization account, additional state charges of $337,000 and unrealized revenues such as the sale of an Atwood Avenue lot forced the town to spend nearly $1.6 million of the free cash to balance the FY04 budget.
Stonegate & Chapter 6 Findings
Stoneham citizens also voted in favor of a zoning article that will begin to pave the way for an 11-unit condominium development at the site of the Spot Pond Motel.
Specifically, the article sought to rezone a portion of the property from the Highway Business District to the Residence B District.
According to Stoneham attorney Steve Ciccatelli, who represents Benjamin Caggiano, the current owner of the property, the town would stand to annually gain an additional $40,000 in property taxes from the development.
"With the proposed sale prices on the units, which are $400,000-$475,000, the town would receive at least $40,000 in tax revenues. Most important, what we're dealing with is an area that's part of the gateway to town. Although the Spot Pond served its purpose in its time, it's now unfortunately a blemish," remarked Ciccatelli before the article was passed unanimously.
Before any construction on the project can begin, Caggiano would still need a special permit from the Planning Board, a variance for the side setbacks from the Zoning Board of Appeals, and site plan approval by the Board of Selectman.
Another zoning related article, the Town Meeting audience approved an article that will make it unnecessary for home owners to go before the Zoning Board if they are proposing construction that will not alter the use of a preexisting non-conforming home.
In recent months since Building Inspector Gene Argiro has enforced the building code regulations, the Zoning Board has found itself swamped with petitioners seeking to perform minor construction and home repairs such as building a deck or adding a small addition onto their home.
According to Argiro, the passing of the article will save costs for such construction, speed up the permitting process, and allow the Zoning Board to concentrate on more important matters.
"I'm glad it passed; it's been a long time coming. It's going to help a lot of people. It's going to speed things up a little bit because we can just review the plans now and issue a permit," said Argiro of the Town Meeting vote.
Miscellaneous Articles
The town also approved an article that will help the Stoneham Police to enforce tractor-trailer parking regulations on public ways and streets.
Although the town code already made it illegal for tractor-trucks not making deliveries to park on public ways, the warrant article passed on Monday night will allow the Police to impose a $50 parking ticket to trucks violating the statute.
Lastly, citizens approved an article that will allow Town Clerk John Hanright to set reasonable fees for dog licenses.
Although Hanright was already authorized to raise fees at last May's Town Meeting, the town code specified that the Town Clerk could only charge $7 for a male dog and $11 for a female dog.
According to Hanright, the license fees will only increase by a couple of dollars.
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