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New Boston officials warn staffing cuts after default budget leaves little margin
Summary
Select Board members said the town's default budget and higher-than-expected early-year costs mean staffing hours and some projects may be cut; department managers warned the cuts will delay maintenance and raise costs later.
The New Boston Select Board warned on April 20 that a default municipal budget and rising early-year costs may force staffing reductions and cut hours for town employees.
"So this board is now making a tough decision, because of the public decided to go with a default budget versus the proposed budget, that we are now gonna be looking at some staffing changes," Select Board member Bill McFadden said during the first-quarter budget review.
Kathy, the town's finance lead for the evening, reported first-quarter expenditures of $2,102,472 against an approved default budget of about $7,000,005, leaving roughly 72.15% of the year's appropriations unspent so far, but she warned that higher utility, fuel and maintenance bills and several one-time contract costs are tightening the town's available funds.
Department heads singled out specific pressures: police overtime and vehicle-repair bills have climbed, the town must replace several cruisers that have exceeded 100,000 miles and officers need new ballistic vests, and highway and transfer-station fuel and salt costs spiked during a prolonged winter. The police-related items included a planned purchase of five vests at about $8,500 and vehicle repairs totaling roughly $66,146, both cited by town staff as near-term needs.
"This is probably one of the worst defaults I've been through," Jerry Cornett, transfer station manager, said. "We've trimmed our budget ... but I don't know how we get the message out that this is actually hurting our department — we're not gonna be able to do certain maintenance issues."
Board members asked department managers to document what would be cut under the default budget so the impact could be clear to voters and the community. McFadden said the board planned to continue reviewing possible staffing and hour changes over the next few weeks and to roll out any final decisions as needed.
A motion to decline a requested winter bonus for highway plow drivers passed during the meeting; the board framed the vote as a fairness question while the town operates under a default budget. The board later approved the hire of a part-time police sergeant after an executive-session review.
The board said it will pursue grants where possible for equipment purchases and will try to minimize impacts while balancing the legal limit of the default budget. Final personnel actions and any adjustments are contingent on the board's follow-up reviews and available funding.
What happens next: the board asked each department to prepare a list of proposed cuts and the likely effects, and said it would return to staffing and budget decisions at upcoming meetings.
