Clarksburg Eyes School Fund for Capital Items
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The Selectmen met with the Finance Committee on Wednesday night to review a preliminary budget for 2011 with the goal of keeping spending in line with this year's operating budget of $968,000.
However, the town is facing the need for a new highway plow and a possible crisis situation with the well for the Senior Center.
The state Department of Environmental Protection took the town to task a year ago for installing a well for the center downgrade from the closed landfill. It was ordered to do regular monitoring of the water supply and given six years to replace it.
The well was to be replaced when a new water supply was drilled for a proposed senior housing center but the grant funding for that project is now up in the air.
"If we don't get the next round of senior housing funds, we'll have to build a well or close the Senior Center," said Town Administrator Michael Canales. "I'm telling you now because I want it on the radar."
The highway department is looking to replace an aging plow truck that's rusted and broken down. Canales estimated a replacement at $150,000 to $160,000, with attachments. The Police Department will also need a cruiser in a few years.
The town had begun putting money into a stabilization fund in anticipation of a school building project but little movement has been made on that front and the school's enrollment has dropped significantly. Canales didn't have an exact amount but thought the account had around $100,000.
Finance Committee Chairwoman Mary Beverly suggested setting aside some of the money for capital projects.
"We should ask the town to take money out for things that the town desparately needs in the near future," she said, by transferring down payments into dedicated stabilization funds for the well, the truck and, possibly, a cruiser or other equipment.
The others endorsed the idea, as long as too much wasn't take out to ensure funds toward future construction or renovation at the school.
After some discussion, the committees were also amenable in moving town employees up two pay steps. Workers' step raises have been frozen for several years. Canales said the main beneficiaries will be two highway workers, one of whom has been stuck at "0" for three years. Several workers will end up getting only one step because they will fall into the gap between five and 10 years of service when there is no step raise.
Canales said the cost would be about $3,000 a year and will be mostly offset by the retirement of the highway department's third and most senior worker who will not be replaced. Bevery suggested that the town also adopt the three-quarter percent local meals tax, which could bring in around $2,000.
Town Clerk Carol Jammalo and Board of Health Chairman Joseph Mondia both approached the boards about raises. Mondia was looking to restore board member's stipends cut the three years ago. Jammalo said she had not gotten a raise in four years but "the state is constantly putting more and more stuff on the clerks." She asked if a raise wasn't possible perhaps benefits were?
Beverly, a former town clerk, said she couldn't get behind the request. Jammalo would also get $1,000 when she received her town clerk certification this summer. Selectman Carl McKinney noted the selectmen had twice cut their stipend and they couldn't endorse adding or restoring funds without doing it for everyone. Selecten Chairwoman Debra Lefave said their requests would be presented and they had the option to ask voters directly.
"I'd probably put my toe in the water before I stand up," Lefave told Jammalo. "They've been barracudas the last couple of years."
