Finance committee sets budget calendar and flags ClearGov problems; staff to accept Excel submissions

Town finance staff told the Finance Committee they have received some department budgets and reminded members that departmental submissions were due at the end of December. Member (Speaker 3) said the town’s ClearGov system underwent a major modification that consolidated revenue and expenditure lines and merged funds (water, sewer and general fund now appear together), which made it harder for end users to review budgets. “I had a heart attack,” Speaker 3 said of logging into the updated system.

As a workaround, staff asked departments to submit their budgets as Excel spreadsheets this year; staff will compile a master spreadsheet for presentation at the town meeting and will try to import the data into ClearGov once reconciled. The committee emphasized they will continue to produce the familiar comparative tables showing prior actuals and the requested FY2026 amounts so selectmen and residents can see percentage changes.

Schedule and personnel notes: The committee confirmed its January meeting for Jan. 15, set a joint meeting with the Dudley-Charlton School District for Feb. 12, scheduled finance committee budget hearings for Feb. 26 and a final hearing March 12, all at 6:30 p.m. Member (Speaker 3) noted department heads (police, fire, DPW) will be scheduled individually. Committee members also noted the town appointed a new fire chief who is scheduled to start on the 24th after the previous chief Ed’s retirement; the new chief’s name was not specified in the transcript.

Ending: Staff will gather the Excel budget submissions, compile the master budget spreadsheet for review at upcoming hearings, and the committee will revisit ClearGov adoption after this budget cycle.