Adams Draft Budget Calls For Loss Of Three Jobs
ADAMS, Mass. — Three town employees will be fired if the Board of Selectmen passes the proposed budget as is.The Selectmen began the approval process Tuesday on a budget that calls for two full-time and one part-time town positions to be eliminated, zero cost of living adjustments across the board and voluntary furlough days by department heads.
"The starting point of the review, we tried to address the deficit that has been estimated at around $400,000," said Town Administrator Jonathan Butler. "Anything short of that much of a reduction would require an override vote."
The $12.7 million budget is the lowest the town has had in years and about $600,000 less than last year. By going through each line item and challenging each town department to scale back its spending, Butler said the proposed budget is enough to cover the deficit and puts the town in a better position for future budgets.
"That deficit really is a result of several challenges all coming together at the same time. That includes further cuts to state aid, increases to employee health insurance that continue to go up annually and, in my professional opinion and I think also the accountant's, an inability of the town to use free cash in the same capacity as it has in previous years," Butler said. "This budget proposal was constructed with the intent of making long-term changes to the way some services are provided in Adams."
The budget is based on estimated 7 percent reduction in state aid, a 1 percent increase to the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District and a 3 percent increase for the Northern Berkshire Vocational School District.
Major changes, which have not yet been approved by the board, include reduction of more than $135,000 in operation costs, elimination of the Social Day Program at the Council on Aging, elimination of a part-time administrative assistant position at the Council on Aging, and revitalizing police dispatch services to the Berkshire County sheriff's office.
"I have met with the pertinent stakeholders. I have met with employees involved, I have met with our unions, I have met with basically anybody who is affected by any of these reforms and I explained what the purpose was and the purpose was to have all the information out before people have to read about it in the newspaper," Butler said. "So that people didn't feel that I was making a proposal and making decisions behind people's backs. It was designed to be a really inclusive process."
The Social Day Program was intended to be funded with its own receipts but the program has declined since 2008 and no longer brings in enough revenue, according to Butler. The town has been keeping the program afloat with an account set up in about a decade ago that is now exhausted, Butler said. To continue the program would cost the town $50,000.
"The Social Day Program is an expensive program for the amount of people that it affects," Butler said. "It's an important program that has done well and it has filled a big need for a lot of folks but in the final analysis it really only does benefit a few families at a pretty significant cost and I think that if we restructured there we can hit a much bigger portion of the population."
To reach more of the population the budget calls for the creation of an outreach coordinator position at the Council on Aging that will be funded by the receipts from overseeing programming targeted for a larger population. At the same time, an additional $19,000 will be reduced by eliminating the part-time administrative assistant position at the organization.
The dispatch service change is aimed to begin at the latest on Jan. 1 next year and that was the target used for the budget. However, Butler said the change could come as early as June 1. The switch will save the town about $100,000 in this budget and close to $200,000 on future budgets.
The budget includes a $70,000 cost savings because of implementation of the 1.4 megawatt solar facility to be built on the former landfill. The $70,000 in savings is estimated if the facility is open for nine months.
The library custodian will pick up additional work in the proposal by becoming a town custodian and therefore can be used in other town buildings. Cost-of-living pay increases will not be given to management, union and non-union workers, and a total 10 weeks of furlough will be offered to department heads.
An estimated $25,000 is proposed to be saved by restructuring animal control services and another $10,000 by consolidating the Forest Wardens into the Fire District. A reduction of allocated money to the reserve fund by $50,000 is proposed.
The board will continue the budget review on Thursday. Nearly all of the line items addressed Tuesday were approved without contention but those did not include any of the major proposed changes.
The board tabled discussion about the recycling center while the board investigates closing it down.
"I would love to eliminate the recycling center," Chairman Michael Ouellette. "It's a $50,000 expense. I don't know how many people use it. I know I use it every week or every other week but I think we should have people go to North Adams or have their own trash removal people."
The Department of Public Works budget also saw some debate with Selectwoman Paula Melville proposing the department hire more employees. Melville said while all other town department budgets have doubled in the last 20 years, the DPW had only increased by 25 percent. To accomplish more work, Melville requested hiring three additional employees but could not find a second for the motion.
The board also passed by split decision increasing the stipend for Robert Wnuk, who maintains the town's computer systems. According to the board, Wnuk works so many hours that his stipend equates to about 15 cents an hour. The board nearly doubled that stipend but it came by a split vote.
"There is never a year to do it so you do it now or you don't do it at all. It's not going to get any better," Selectman Scott Nichols said.
Wnuk will now have an additional $2,000 added to his stipend for a total of $5,000. Selectman Jason Hnatonko argued against it by saying this budget is not the year to give raises. Melville contended that the going rate for this position is $40,000 and the town is still receiving a bargain. Melville, Nichols and Ouellette voted in favor while Hnatonko and Arthur "Skip" Harrington voted against.
"I'd love to be able to give this gentleman an increase but this is the wrong year to do it," Harrington said.
The town approved budgets for accounting, property insurance and liability, employee benefits, technology, the Wastewater Treatment Plant, cemetery, parks and grounds, seasonal celebrations, equipment maintenance, registry of deeds, Town Hall, the visitor's center, tree warden, DPW, highways, public works and snow and ice.
Adams, Mass., Budget Overview 2011
