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Budget committee sends draft back to selectmen, requests about $610,000 in cuts and asks Board of Ed to target $200,000 reduction
Summary
At a town budget work session, the committee voted to return the draft budget to the Board of Selectmen asking for roughly $610,000 in additional cuts—largely by trimming capital items—and asked the Board of Education to target $200,000 in reductions while members debated the impact on staffing and the mill rate.
The budget work session voted to return the town’s draft budget to the Board of Selectmen with a request to cut about $610,000 from capital and operating lines and to ask the Board of Education to target a $200,000 reduction, members said.
The committee’s motion to send the budget back, debated at the meeting, directed Selectmen to remove the items the group identified from the capital budget and, where possible, move projects to future years or to bonding. A member moved the motion and another seconded it; members were then asked to indicate assent by voice. Opponents registered their dissent aloud.
Beverly, a finance staff member who reviewed operating lines for the committee, told members she identified about $36,100 in operating reductions — including roughly $5,200 from electricity; $3,300 from vehicle maintenance; and $15,600 from group insurance — and that when accounting for rental sweeper services and other changes the net operating change was about $21,100 and capital reductions totaled about $296,000.
Board members said the requested cuts reflect a broader effort to reduce next year’s projected mill rate. Earlier in the meeting staff had shown draft numbers that put the mill rate near the mid-30s; the committee discussed scenarios in which reducing the budget by $1 million could move the mill rate lower, with multiple members calling for additional work to refine the calculation.
The committee also voted to ask the Board of Education to pursue a targeted reduction of $200,000. Multiple members emphasized that such savings, if achieved, would likely require personnel changes and warned the cuts could affect classroom staff and services. ‘‘I don’t think that should be at the expense of cutting teachers,’’ one member said during the discussion.
The board scheduled a follow-up budget work session and noted a legal notice for the meeting must be posted in advance of the public hearing. Jim Harris, who introduced himself at the meeting, reminded members that the special meeting notice must publish by the end of the week and that the hearing venue is likely the Town Hall cafeteria.
Next steps include formal transmission of the requested reductions to the Board of Selectmen and, separately, a request that the Board of Education present options that would meet the committee’s $200,000 target ahead of the public hearing.
