By Lori Richardl, Neighb News Correspondent
At the 3/29/22 meeting, the Acushnet Selectboard gave serious consideration to what the consequences might be of using $410,000 of excise tax money to balance the budget this year. While the board has budgeted $1.3 million to do this, the additional revenue would bring the total to $1.672 million, essentially providing town departments with most if not all of their budget requests. Selectboard member Kevin Gaspar expressed his strong reservations about taking such action.
“I think using the additional $300,000 to balance the budget this year is not a prudent decision,” he said. “There is also an additional $110,000 in revenues that was left on the table in excess capacity in the levy that’s been taken off, too…. I think that would be extremely detrimental to the town and extremely detrimental to the taxpayers.”
Mr. Gaspar added that the school department’s 2023 budget request would absorb almost all of the town’s financial cushion.
“Between Old Colony and Acushnet Public Schools, there’s an over $700,000 increase in this year’s budget. That’s all of our Proposition 2-1/2 levy and half of our new growth. There’s nothing left for fixed costs or the other side of town for budgeting,” he said, including union contracts which have not been ratified yet.
Interim Town Administrator Jamie Kelley explained that the approximately $1.7 million to balance the budget does not reflect an increase over last year’s spending. He asked the board for direction.
“If the board wants to reduce its reliance on excise tax by $100,000, $200,000, that’s up to the board,” he said. He added that he has made similar recommendations in other communities that were implemented.
Regarding the aforementioned $110,000, Mr. Kelley noted that the money came from unused levy capacity from last year. Essentially, if the board decides not to use revenue funds, the shortfall would have to be cut from department budgets. He suggested beginning by working with the school department’s $18 million budget.
“I gave you pretty much in four weeks a level-funded budget, but there were additions,” Mr. Kelley said in his defense.
Mr. Gaspar agreed that they were under a tight deadline this year, and he thanked Mr. Kelley for his hard work.
“I want to commend Mr. Kelley. He’s been here for a very short period of time and he put the budgets together to the best of his ability,” he said. “And I get it, nobody wants to argue about cuts, right?”
Mr. Gaspar said he wanted to bring the matter before the board because he’s concerned about the impact the decision could have on taxpayers next year.
“People will be jumping up and down” when their tax bills arrive, he said, “that’s kind of what happened this January and a lot of people complained.”
However, Mr. Kelley said there’s no way to calculate what tax bills will look like next year.
“You don’t know,” he said. If any MMA money is available, it probably will not exceed $75,000 to $100,000, and state aid has not amounted to much in recent years.
He said, “You’ve got to rely on Proposition 2-1/2 increases, [and] new growth which you don’t have a lot of now…. I would argue you’re not going to be up at the $400,000 level next year.”
Acushnet will likely be level-funded again next year, he added, but he does not predict the school department will hit that financial target.
Leaning towards budget cuts, Mr. Gaspar said, “I think we’ve got to pull back, maybe the schools could make a small cut.”
Earlier in the night, the fire and police chiefs agreed that minor cuts could be made in their departments if necessary. “There’s room for us to make some cuts,” he said.
His fellow selectboard members David Wojnar and David Desroches, said they would like more information in order to make an informed decision prior to approving the town’s largest budgets.
Mr. Wojnar called for an evaluation of different budget scenarios to analyze their options and consider the impact to taxpayers.
“I want to make sure I have an understanding of what that is,” he said.
Mr. Kelley said he would make a list of proposed cuts that “are not crippling” to departments for the board to consider its budgeting options.
“We’ll just look at it and see how much can be done,” he said.
Mr. Gaspar wondered out loud whether excise tax funds would have been used if they were not under such a tight deadline.
“If this is what we go with and everybody gets their wish list, then good luck next year,” said Mr. Gaspar.
In response to his comment, Mr. Wojnar cautioned them about more than just the financial picture. He said investing in key personnel should be a concern on their radar as well.
“In the last two years I’ve noticed it’s really evident that we have not invested in some pretty fundamental things for our government, for how we operate our town,” he said. “I don’t want to repeat that mistake moving forward.”
He added that if they “treat people the right way” they will not need to run into these kind of difficult situations in the future, alluding to hiring employees in a pinch to keep the town running smoothly.
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