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Finance Committee flags health‑insurance deficit and service costs while preparing recommendations
Summary
Finance Committee members identified a roughly $158,000 town health‑insurance deficit, Senior Center staffing costs of about $75k–$100k, and potential school cuts under a likely $825,000 Pentucket option as central budget pressures ahead of upcoming meetings.
At the Feb. 25 Finance Committee meeting, David Olds reported several town budget pressures that the committee said will factor into its upcoming recommendations.
Olds said the Senior Center’s hot-meal service is valuable but that employee costs are roughly $75,000–$100,000. He told the committee the Pentucket regional school meeting offered three budget options and that Option 2 — the committee said the most likely — would cut $825,000. Olds also said the library must meet open‑hours requirements to maintain participation in the consortium.
The committee reviewed health‑insurance numbers: "The Town’s health insurance split is 55% town and 45% employee. Right now the deficit is approximately $158,000 which includes a 2% cost of living," Olds said in the meeting notes. Members agreed to gather more detail: Marcia Zosack was to contact additional departments to return to the March 11 meeting with clarifications.
No formal budget votes were recorded in the transcript excerpt; the discussion produced follow-up assignments to collect more detailed cost estimates ahead of the Finance Committee’s next meeting.
