Williamstown Fire District Honing FY23 Budget Proposal
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The committee that oversees the Fire District last week reviewed a fiscal 2023 budget that amounts to a 3.14 percent increase over the current year.
But the $498,000 spending plan is just 0.4 percent higher than the operating budget the annual district meeting approved two years ago.
Last spring, the Prudential Committee put forward a budget that reflected a 2.7 percent decrease from FY21 to FY22. This year, it may be looking to recoup that drop plus a little more according to a preliminary budget presented by Treasurer Corydon Thurston at a special meeting.
"It's certainly a manageable number and a sellable number, in my opinion," Thurston told the committee.
The Prudential Committee on April 27 will approve the final numbers that will go to the district meeting on May 24.
They likely will reflect a handful of drivers that Thurston detailed in last week's virtual meeting, which focused primarily on the district's fiscal matters.
On a percentage basis, one of the biggest line item increases is in the area of education and training, where Thurston has penciled in $15,000 for FY23, up from $10,500 in the current year, a jump of 43 percent.
That, in part, is a reaction to an anticipated overage in the training budget this year.
That is a bad news/good news story for the district, which overspent on training in the current year because of a number of new firefighters who joined the service in the last nine months.
According to numbers the committee reviewed last Wednesday, the district will spend nearly $19,200 on training by the time the fiscal year ends on June 30, an 826 percent overrun that the overall budget can absorb, but which has Thurston closely watching the bottom line.
"The bottom line is we still have a projected minimal surplus, but it wouldn't take much to change that," Thurston said. "A couple of fire calls between now and [June 30], and goodbye to that $2,500.
"I do want to remind you that we have a reserve that was voted at the district meeting. So we will not blow the budget. And we will not have to go on our hands and knees and go for borrowings to make the numbers work if we have additional calls. But it's tighter than the normal budget."
Thurston pointed out that, in years past, spring has been the time the district has assessed its spending to see if there are surpluses that can be used to acquire needed equipment before the end of the fiscal year.
"This year, that's not going to be the case," he said.
Another area where the FY22 budget is running in the red is maintenance and operation line.
District meeting members appropriated $48,500 for M&O in FY22. The district currently is on track to spend a little more than $66,300, a 37 percent overage.
Thurston pointed to a couple of expenses that pushed the M&O expenditures higher than expected: cost overruns on a project to move a wall in the fire station and extraordinary maintenance (new brakes and a new exhaust system) on the chief's vehicle.
The planned FY23 budget includes a 13 percent increase to the M&O line item, and the meeting warrant likely will include a request to replace the chief's vehicle, either through new taxation or use of the district's stabilization fund.
Another special article likely to show up on the meeting warrant would seek $70,000 to go toward the owner's project manager contract for the district's building project.
Prudential Committee Chair John Notsley began last week's meeting by noting that even as the committee finalizes the budget for the next fiscal year, that year could see the district asking taxpayers to make an even larger outlay.
"That year is going to be a very busy and, probably, difficult year because there's going to be a lot going on based on the projections of the building committee," Notsley said. "It would appear that we will be in a position to make a presentation to the town for a new fire station, hopefully.
"A lot of work to do. I want to commend the chief and the engineers for all the hours they've put in on different meetings to get us as far as we are today. It's a lot of work. FY23 is going to be a zoo, but we'll make it. We've made it this far. We'll make it."
Tags: fire district, fiscal 2023,
