Board issues budgetary suggestions

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on December 14, 2007

Regionalizing the police force and dispatchers, limiting cost-of-living adjustments for town employees and encouraging more business development are ideas for improving the town's financial picture for next year.

Facing a $1.9 million structural deficit in fiscal 2009's operating budget, the Select Board Monday advised Town Manager Larry Shaffer on what they want to see in his budget proposal, which will be delivered to the board in the middle of January.

Select Board Chairman Gerry Weiss said he would like the budget prepared using no reserves and no use of a Proposition 21/2 override, as well as keeping cost-of-living adjustments below historical levels. He is also advocating that Shaffer conduct comprehensive reviews of every department for staffing levels and the service provided.

Weiss also emphasized maintaining human service agency funding, keeping both municipal pools open and ensuring all social service subsidies remain in place.

<h4>Weiss: Socialize services</h4>

"We have socialized public schooling, socialized public works, fire and police departments, socialized information technology, and we need socialized human services," Weiss said. "They are just as much a part of our mandate as roads and safety."

Shaffer said two themes will run through the budget he is now preparing, the first being reorganization of departments, the second using surpluses to pare down budget obligations in the future.

"I have no intention of offering a budget this year that recommends drawing up on reserves" or the need for an override, Shaffer said.

Shaffer has already asked department heads to produce hypothetical spending plans 4 to 7 percent lower than the current year's levels in preparing for the budget.

The most dramatic proposals for the budget may have come from board member Hwei-Ling Greeney, who suggested regionalizing Amherst and Hadley police forces and the dispatching at Amherst, Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts.

"Whenever there is potential to regionalize with our neighboring towns, like Hadley, or Pelham, think outside the box," Greeney said.

In a written memo to Shaffer, Greeney asked him to look into whether it is necessary to have more than 10 detectives and 11 ranking officers at the Police Department, as well as the staffing levels of the information technology department.

Greeney added that she would also like to see functions that are duplicated between the schools and town merged, thus reducing personnel. Greeney said modeling this cooperation after the Franklin Regional Council of Governments could help preserve the town's quality education and way of life.

While none of the board members favored seeking a Proposition 21/2 tax cap override immediately, Vice Chairman Rob Kusner said the override law is ensuring that towns throughout the state can keep up with needed services, such as public transportation and other infrastructure.

"I don't think we are raising enough in local real estate taxes," Kusner said.

This need for more revenues, Kusner said, should be kept in mind, along with a possible readjustment in the tax system to make it fairer and more equitable, while still yielding more for the municipalities.

"The public sector is being starved of its fair share," Kusner said.

Board member Anne Awad said she would support regionalizing as a way to get neighbors to share costs. Like the other board members, she is not ready to call for an override.

"I don't believe you can prepare a budget assuming an override," Awad said.

But if an override is deemed necessary, which could come at discussions in early February with the Budget Coordinating Group, Awad said she hopes people would pull together and support it.

One means of increasing revenue was suggested by board member Alisa Brewer, who advocated for a budget development coordinator. This person could look at economic development and increasing taxes coming from commercial entities.

Brewer said she also wants to make sure the town is getting the maximum fees for service and best collection of taxes.

The town, Brewer said, has to do this on its own, without relying on the state to provide more funding. "I do not think things will get better for communities," Brewer said.