Lanesborough Asks Residents To Dig Into Municipal Finance
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Town officials are seeking volunteers to dig into municipal finances to help close what they see as a looming 10-year budget crisis.The Board of Selectmen have organized a town services study committee to analyze how the departments operate and recommend changes to increase efficiency. More than a dozen residents have already signed up for individual departments that range from public safety to the sewer system to the library.
"The undercurrent here is the 10-year budget crisis we're going to be in if we don't start to squeeze things," Selectman Robert Barton said on Monday.
The town recently plotted out a 10-year spending forecast that showed deficits growing from $250,000 to more than $1.5 million. The Selectmen called on department heads to start reducing their expenditures and are now asking residents to do their part in looking at a more intensive study and long-term view.
"This is more of a longer-term look at the nuts and bolts of the town," interim Town Administrator Joseph Kellogg said.
Once formed, the individual subcommittees will work on their own and report to the overarching study committee. The subcommittees will set their own meeting times but will have to abide by open meeting laws. Additionally, Barton said he recruited some of the area's experts to work as advisers. Those experts include Berkshire Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Nathaniel Karns, Berkshire Housing President Elton Ogden and 1Berkshire CEO Stuart Chase.
"We tried to recruit them and they all said they'd be willing to help but could not commit the time. These people might be able to help advise the groups," Barton said.
Barton said that while some of the groups could return with recommendations quickly, others could take years. Currently there are 11 areas of town operations eyed for committees but the Selectmen said they would like even more - such as a sports committee to look at fields and sports programs.
In other business, Kellogg said he will be "strongly recommending" a warrant article at town meeting that will allocate about $27,000 to install automatic defibrillators in all town buildings. About half of the police cruisers do not have automatic defibrillators and the school's unit is no longer usable.
The issue was brought to the forefront last week when Planning Board member Aimee Thayer had a heart attack during a special town meeting.
Tags: planning, town budget,
