Capital Outlay Committee approves budget and redirects $134,159 to sidewalks

The Capitol Outlay Committee voted unanimously during its Dec. 11 meeting to approve the capital outlay budget with an amendment that reallocates $134,159 to sidewalk engineering and construction.

The committee chair opened the meeting by distributing final ranking sheets and asking Greg, the town accountant who compiled members’ rankings, to summarize the results. Greg told the committee the right-hand column shows a total available capital funding figure of $2,535,456; after accounting for prioritized repairs there remained $134,159 available that could be applied to sidewalks. He also said several very large items — including major building repairs and harbor improvements — were being treated as likely to come from other funds, grants, or special appropriations.

Why it matters: committee members repeatedly stressed safety and deferred maintenance as drivers of their rankings. Agnes argued that “buildings and structures in the town, sadly, have been ignored in so many ways,” and members pressed for plans to address long-running equipment and building shortfalls that they said pose safety concerns.

Discussion and votes: members debated whether to restructure funding among secondary roads, drainage and sidewalks. The chair proposed a broader amendment that would have shifted road and drainage allocations and combined $100,000 with the remaining $134,159 to create $234,159 for sidewalks, but withdrew that motion after members and staff said the town engineer’s priorities put roads and drainage first. Agnes then moved to add the $134,159 specifically to the sidewalks engineering and construction request for department 411; the motion was seconded and approved by a 5–0 vote.

Following that allocation, the chair moved to approve the capital outlay budget as presented with the sidewalk amendment included. The motion was seconded and passed by unanimous roll call.

Funding context: Greg said the committee’s compiled requests totaled roughly $19.19 million in total requests, leaving an unfunded gap of several million dollars under current assumptions; he stressed that the committee’s recommended order will guide the Select Board and that additional options — including purchase timing or special appropriations — could open extra space in the plan. He also noted the Select Board had tentatively committed about $54,000 of ARPA funds to capital but warned that ARPA spending required tight commitment and expenditure timelines.

Other business: the committee approved minutes from the Nov. 13 and Dec. 4 meetings and the session adjourned at 03:33. The chair urged town officials to pursue a legislative method to return auction proceeds from capital items to the capital fund rather than to the general fund, a suggestion members said the finance committee would likely support.

Next steps: Greg said he will work with the finance director and town administrator to prepare funding-option proposals for the Select Board, potentially for the Select Board’s Jan. 7 meeting, and committee members asked that staff continue to coordinate with the town engineer on priority sequencing.