Adams Changing Budget Hearings to Previous Procedure
ADAMS, Mass. — Selectman John Duval has told the Finance Committee that this year the town will not hold joint budget hearings.
"We are going back to the way we used to do things ... we are going to go through every department and deliberate," Duval said last week.
Former Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco had initiated the joint public hearings held at the Visitors Center during his three-year tenure and greatly condensed the budget process. Department heads presented their budgets via PowerPoint and the public was encouraged to attend and ask questions.
Duval said the meetings were informative but there was less discussion among boards.
"They were nice to have but in my opinion, there was no deliberation among board members," he said. "When we did this a few years ago, we would go to 10 or 11 at night arguing about the budget. We are going back to that format."
This means the budget process will be once again be a lengthy one with both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee running through the same budget at separate meetings.
Finance Committee member Craig Corrigan said this was already in the works before Mazzucco knew he was leaving the post, as Corrigan and another member had approached Mazzucco about the subject.
"We decided that we weren't going to do the Punch and Judy Show like he did. We just did not have control," he said. "So, it was going to change anyway."
The Selectmen will roll out the budget schedule in the coming weeks.
The Finance Committee also reaffirmed that it wanted to pursue a charter change and decrease the board's membership from 15 members to 13.
Currently, there are only 13 members on the committee, but they would still need eight for a quorum.
Member Tim Burdick said it is important that each meeting has a quorum so business can go forward.
Tags: adams_budget, Finance Committee, fiscal 2019,
