CHESHIRE, Mass. — Town officials are looking to close a $388,931 deficit in the fiscal 2025 budget. 

 

The Select Board and Finance Committee began preliminary discussions during joint meeting Tuesday. 

 

Finance Committee member John Tremblay suggested the Select Board to provide an overview of the budget and then committee members and board members could go line by line to discuss particulars.

 

Select Board Chairman Shawn McGrath said, "In my mind everything is on the table. We need to look at all the expenses. Let's get to a place where we understand the expenses and agree on them. Then we can look at funding."

 

The biggest budget item is the Hoosac Valley Regional School District, with an estimated assessment of $3 million, and there was agreement that there are many questions that remain about this part of the budget. 

 

Concern about payroll increases led to questions about which administrative positions are mandated and whether the school district may be heavy on the number of administrators on the payroll.

 

Select Board member Michele Francesconi inquired about the metrics being used to measure the improvements that have been promised in previous budget negotiations. 

 

Morse noted that the new Pathways program is only halfway through the first year of implementation and so there hasn't been a lot of data yet. Others then suggested that there were ways to track what was going on and specific details would be helpful.

 

McCann Technical School assessment is $547,000 based on the budget approved by the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School Committee last month.

 

Later, during the Police Department section of the budget, the discussion again returned to school issues, as the topic of a full-time school resource officer was discussed. Some funding may be available for this.  

 

Questions officials would like answered is if the position would the same 2,080 hours that full-time employees of the town work each year and whether it is necessary to have a dedicated patrol car. Also, if a current officer were to take the position, a new officer is hired to fill the vacancy created, would the current funding for the resource officer position end?  

 

Although most of the time was spent on these school-related issues, the board and committee members did move through each line of the budget. Many items remain the same or slightly higher, for example the Recreation/Culture line item is increased by 2.5 percent, the typical increase in library funding. 

 

"Same as always," said McGrath.

 

The Communications line remains flat, Fire, Emergency Management and Buildings Departments all show small increases. The Board of Health shows a little bigger increase, reflecting the need for a certified sanitarian.

 

On several of the items, Tremblay stated the Finance Committee would like to meet with department heads.  

 

"We want to understand their needs and what they want to do," he said.

 

Morse said she's already arranging for several departments to be present at the April 1 Select Board meeting for this purpose. The department heads will also address any special projects they are proposing.  

 

While a new fire engine is expected to be discussed, that is a two- to three-year process from when the truck is ordered to when the town takes delivery, so the project would not fall into the 2025 budget.

 

Select Board member Jason Levesque asked for some clarification on the proposed purchase of roadside mower and the different models being considered. Regardless of the mechanical specifications, there was general agreement that one that causes less damage by throwing rocks differently than the current mower is desirable.

 

The Transfer Station will be represented at the next meeting also. Officials said there is some confusion and misinformation circulating about waste management and recycling, including about Twin Bridges of Clifton Park, N.Y., the contractor involved. They believe an upcoming tour of the Twin Bridges facilities will help clarify some details, particularly about where the recycling is ending up. There is also work on a proposed new fee structure. All of this will be presented at the April 1 meeting.

 

Since the salt and snow budget cannot be carried over to the next fiscal year, Morse explained that as is typical, the town will use the money for any related items like new blades for the plow, filling the sand and salt stores and paving. In fact, the request for bids for paving will go out in the coming weeks.

 

As the details become clearer at future meetings, revenue streams will also. On that note, the meeting was adjourned.

 

Prior to the joint meeting, the Select Board quickly moved through the agenda items, approving previous minutes, accounts payable and payroll warrants as well as one-day liquor licenses applied for by the Cheshire Rod and Gun Club for April 13, April 20 and April 23.

 

A brief discussion about public records access was followed by the appointment of Police Chief  Michael Alibozek, Fire Chief Thomas Francesconi and Town Administrator Jennifer Morse as Records Access Officers. This had been cleared with the town clerk and officials say it will streamline the process with regard to police and fire records.

 

The board was asked to address a policy change proposal regarding when vacation time accruals are updated for town employees. Currently the updates for all employees occur on the first day of the fiscal year but because of a new payroll software system currently being set up, it may be more useful for the accrued time to updated on an employee's employment anniversary date instead.

 

"The issue is it was not on the agenda. I'm not comfortable voting on something that wasn't on the agenda and we didn't have time to think about," said Select Board member Michelle Francesconi.  

 

The board chose to vote on this time accrual policy change at its next meeting.