Dalton Fin Comm OKs Transfer to Cover Highway Shortfall, Budget Increase
DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee last week approved a $30,000 reserve transfer to the Highway Department to cover an $18,000 shortfall in the road materials line item.
The original request amount had been $20,000, but that would have left the department only $2,000 for road materials until June 30. The committee raised the requested amount to $30,000 so the department has enough money to pay its bills for the rest of the fiscal year.
The shortfall in the roads material budget had been caused by the erroneous belief that pothole repair materials came out of the snow and ice budget because snow and ice cause the potholes. They do not, they come out of the Highway Department budget.
The department will be making an interdepartmental transfer in June to close out the year.
The correction had come up during the Finance Committee's review of the fiscal 2023 highway budget. It approved a 13.93 percent increase to $549,108.
Committee officials said the department's budget had to be adjusted in the past to accommodate the school budget. Since then, the highway budget has been underfunded.
"At one point, the roadway material budget was over $100,000, many years ago. And then in fiscal 2009, the school had come in with a substantial budget that year," Chair William Drosehn said. "And we actually had to adjust our budget to accommodate the school system. We're just trying to get back to where we were once upon a time."
Drosehn argued that the department has been grossly underfunded the past few years and inaction has caused an accumulation of potholes in many parts of the town.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this point. I have many constituents that are looking over my shoulder wondering why our roads are falling apart? Well, that's because of inaction. And this is what we're trying to do now is stick some Band-Aids on this," Drosehn said.
This inaction is costing more money in overtime than it would if the department was given a higher budget so it can pay more upfront and a little later, he said.
"Back a couple of years ago, I made it pretty well known on television that this was all going to happen to us. And taxpayers chose to do something that was extremely expensive. I don't know how to tell people this but we're up against something that's been building for quite some time, for many years" Drosehn said.
He argued that when the town takes care of the roads consistently rather than reacting to problems with them it can get a lot more years out of a road.
"When it comes to roadways, if you stay on top of them, instead of constantly out there playing a 'whack a mole' kind of thing, roads can be pretty kind to you," Drosehn said. "You can have pavement that they say you can only get 14 years out of like you can actually get nearly 20 years out of that with good meat."
The department also wanted to budget for roads that need much needed repair such as Frederick Drive, Sleepy Hollow and Dalton Division.
Orchard Road was also on the list for repair until it flooded. To prevent flooding in the future, a drainage system is going to be installed. A grant has been applied for to offset the cost of the system. The Highway Department did not see a need to repave the road to only have to tear it up later for the drainage system.
The committee discussed a contingency plan to improve Dalton Division Road if it were to lose its Transportation Improvement Program funding. Drosehn brought up the idea of the Highway Department reaching out to local independent contractors to see how much they would charge to pave the 1.6 mile road.
If it is under $150,000, capital funds could be moved to cover the repairs and buy the department 10 to 12 years.
"If we could just have that in the back of our minds, because if it all falls apart, and it's under the $150,000, we may have to go back to the taxpayers and say, 'Look, we lost this opportunity [for TIP funding],'" Drosehn said "We have to go back with our tail between our legs and ask them to move money from the capital funds to us, that'll buy us probably 10 to 12 years."
In other business, the commitee made two other reserve fund transfers:
• An amount of $4,800 was transferred to the Highway Department's buuilding repairs line item to repair nine safety violations in accordance with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
An inspector came into the building and noted these needed repairs after an incident that caused an employee to pinch their finger which now has to be amputated.
• An amount of $7,500 for the Information Technology Department, which has added a virtual private network between Town Hall and the Highway Department and other improvements. Research is being put into pricing for fiberlinks to rewire town facilities.
Tags: fiscal 2023, snow & ice,
