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Select Board debates public-safety staffing and rising benefits costs as budget pressure grows
Summary
Select Board members weighed proposals to add staff to police and fire, and discussed an expected double-digit increase in health insurance premiums that is inflating the operating budget.
Public-safety staffing requests and a projected jump in health‑care costs topped the Select Board’s operating budget discussion on March 4.
The Select Board reviewed recent conversations with the police and fire chiefs. For fire, the board discussed adding a deputy chief position and increased overtime to maintain staffing levels; the deputy position also carries a capital request for a vehicle. For police, the board debated hiring three additional officers in a staggered schedule rather than four immediately, a compromise between the chief’s full request and Select Board fiscal concerns.
Nut graf: Members said public safety is a high priority but also tied the operating increases to a broader fiscal picture. Board members pressed staff for data on incident frequency and noted competing budget pressures, including a near‑term health‑insurance premium increase projected to be in the high teens percentage-wise.
Al (Select Board member) said he was reluctant to add recurring headcount without offsets elsewhere in the budget. Other members, including Sam and Marguerite, stressed the community’s public-safety needs and said a partial compromise (three hires staged over the year) could be reasonable. The board signaled tentative support for three police positions phased over the next fiscal year and for a phased approach to the fire deputy.
On benefits, town staff told the board that an initial insurance renewal projection nearing 25% had been reduced in negotiation to about 19%, with staff aiming to further trim to about 17% in the plan the board reviewed. Board members said that level of increase—driven mainly by prescription costs and new therapies—would be a significant pressure on the operating budget.
Ending: The Select Board signaled it would take a formal vote next week after advisory’s review. Members said they would try to avoid new headcount where possible but acknowledged the public-safety requests and the health‑insurance shock made the operating picture challenging.
