Selectmen wrestle with budget

The Springfield Board of Selectmen’s meeting held on Monday, January 20 was well attended.
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Selectmen Wrestle with Budget Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/21/2014 - 3:09pm SPRINGFIELD, VT -The Springfield Board of Selectmen’s meeting held on Monday, January 20 was well attended. It began at 6:30 pm. Most of the attendees were representatives from publicly funded services in town. The Budget Advisory Committee was in attendance as well. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss areas of the budget that either the town manager or the Budget Advisory Committee had made specific recommendations about. This work was done in order to finalize the budget for the public hearing this Weds, January 22. A motion was passed to fund $50,000 for the important economic development services that both Springfield on the Move and Springfield Regional Development Corp. give the town. A new line item was added to the budget for this purpose. A motion to add one firemen/ EMT at a cost of $62,000, with a reduction of $10,000 in overtime was passed next. A discussion of hiring an additional police officer was debated for quite some time. Selectman Michael Knoras expressed concern over the amount of time police officers were out of work because of “health issues.” He felt that this should be straightened out first. Mr. Putnam, who is on the Cemetery Commission commented that his understanding is that “the more overtime you have, the more accidents you have.” The motion to fund the addition of one more policeman at the cost of $66,304 was passed. The proposed reduction of the road maintenance staff by one position was voted down by the select board. The select board made the decision to level fund the equipment contribution for the highway department. A decision was made to not purchase a new truck for the Parks and Rec. department. Since the truck is ten years old, the vehicle maintenance budget line was increased from $600 to $1600. The library budget’s balance came in $300.22 lower than last year’s. This was because the temporary pay line was reduced by $780, the book budget was reduced by $1,000 and the heat fuel was reduced to $10,500. The sidewalk program was funded for $50,000. Highway paving was funded for $40,000. Other public works funded included a $5,000 repair to the basement entrance to the library and the re-pavement of the police department parking lot, at a cost of $56,050. The town’s fixed costs, such as salaries for union employees, depend on the ongoing negotiations. Town employees have not received an increase in pay for over 3 years. Chair Kristi Morrise thanked members of the Budget Advisory Board for their hard work and recommendations. The meeting was adjourned at 9:17 pm. There will be a public hearing on the town budget this Weds. January 22 at 6 p.m.