Wisdom of proposed budget increase debated
Published on October 15th, 2008
STONEHAM, MA - Town officials on Tuesday debated the wisdom of expending over $560,000 in free cash on capital repairs and additional school funding in the midst of a statewide budget crunch.
The Selectmen ultimately voted in favor of the spending increase, with Selectman Robert Sweeney dissenting due to what he termed "discrepancies" with the proposed expenditures.
During the Tuesday night meeting, Town Administrator David Ragucci proposed that the town increase its FY'09 operating budget by $681,328.
The budget amendment, which must be passed by Town Meeting next Monday, would appropriate $494,000 for capital repairs across the town and pipe another $87,000 to the school budget for utility bills.
Ragucci has further advocated for slating $50,000 towards the cleanup of the Stevens Street recycling yard, where decomposing yard waste has piled-up. The proposal would be funded by $67,000 in additional state aid, $50,000 from recycling sticker fees, and over $560,000 of Stoneham's $1.4 million in certified free cash.
Sweeney later challenged the need to expend $5,000 for vending machine supplies at the Stoneham Arena when the concessions were being leased to a third party.
Town Counsel Bill Solomon later characterized the $5,000 as a backup plan, in the event that Town Meeting rejects a bid to lease the snack area for three years. The Arena concessions are currently being leased by a third party.
"That's only one thing I picked-up. I'm sure if I looked, there would be other discrepancies," concluded Sweeney, before voting against the budget increase.
According to Selectman Richard Gregorio and board chairman John DePinto, they had some reservations about spending so much money before Gov. Deval Patrick identifies ways to plug an anticipated $1.5 billion shortfall in state revenues.
Patrick, who is scheduled to outline a series of budget cuts and layoffs later Wednesday afternoon, has indicated that he will spare cities and towns from state aid cuts.
However, Gregorio and DePinto had received word that Stoneham could lose as much as $500,000 as a result of the state deficit.
According to Gregorio, cutting the budget in the middle of a fiscal year only makes the deficit worse, because the size of the reduction needs to be doubled to account for money that has already been expended.
"The governor can't cut state aid [without legislative approval], so that doesn't mean it's not going to happen," said DePinto, who believes a Special Town Meeting will likely need to be called next February to deal with potential cuts.
"I have a concern that it may impact Stoneham by $500,000. I'm cautious and pessimistic until we have the details," Gregorio warned. "That's 20 employees, roughly. And [the problem] compounds itself in FY'10."
Selectman Paul Rotondi later argued in favor of Ragucci's proposed spending increase, contending that the one-time revenues shouldn't be used to offset operating budget shortfalls.
According to Rotondi, if the town's revenues were slashed, the Selectmen would need to identify ways to reduce reoccurring annual expenditures, as opposed to slashing money set aside for one-time capital repairs.
"The critical thing in my opinion is that if there are going to be cuts, they're going to be continuous. So we can't have a short-term solution and say lets take it all out of stabilization," the Selectman said.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!