Dalton Police Department Requests Interdepartmental Transfers
DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee approved more than $100,000 in departmental transfers to cover costs for vacation and overtime for the Police Department.
The approvals were made at the committee's April 27 meeting so they could be done before the end of the month to pay bills.
Approved was transfer of $40,700 from the Vocational Education line and $57,500 from the Communication Salary budget to the salary budget to accommodate overtime and vacation time.
"We had three officers at the academy, and a resignation of a sergeant. We had to fill a minimum of 80 hours per week on overtime for months. Due to police reform, we only have two part-time officers instead of five. We have over 300 hours of vacation time for officers to use by June 30," Police chief Deanna Strout said in her request.
Strout said the police budget was low from the start, which exacerbated the budget issues the department is currently experiencing.
"Previously we had budgeted for 140 shifts of overtime, that didn't even cover the vacation and personal time that my officers had. So we were behind the eight ball from the start. You have to, contractually, I have to fill those shifts," she said, "So the shifts I needed was 219. So you're already that far behind, because we just weren't budgeting properly and enough to cover the vacancies we knew we had."
Strout mentioned that there is a lot of vacation time now being taken so the committee questioned whether it would be beneficial for the town to buy out the vacation time.
Right now the town pays out half of the vacation that is unused. Workers can carry it over one year and get a maximum of two weeks payout and an additional week with Select Board approval.
"So they had accrued a lot of vacation leave. And in my thought process, since they had accrued so much vacation leave if they're not going to use it, maybe we should kind of come up with some sort of a special dispensation and just kind of get rid of that," Finance Committee Chair William Drosehn said.
"What I'm thinking of is getting rid of that debt is something that's kind of hanging over us; be done with it. Let's start with a clean slate. Now we can go. We know how to budget, we know what we need. You don't have to get into these transfers and things of that nature. Because we've had to rebuild our department as it is."
The current balance the Police Department has in its budget is $165,049, which Strout says is not enough to get it through the rest of the fiscal year.
The vocational education budget's balance was $89,500 and the communication salary's balance $84,385.
The Police Department also requested a transfer in the amount of $12,500 from the communication salary to the expenses budget to cover expenses through the end of the fiscal year.
The chief noted that the cost for gas has increased substantially over the last few months and that there is only $338 remaining in the fuel account, which is not enough to cover the remaining deliveries.
The communication salary budget has a current balance of $26,885 and the department's expense balance is $25,834.
The committee also approved a transfer from vocational education expenses to the Highway Department in the amount of $25,000 to cover the cost of street sweepings and road repairs.
Due to unforeseen truck and equipment repairs, the department plowed through a lot of their budget early.
The cost of the street sweeping will be approximately $10,000 to $12,000 dollars. The department also has to cover the cost of road repairs before July 1. There are a few failed catch basins that need to be repaired and some that need to be rebuilt.
Committee members also approved:
A transfer from sewer treatment to sewer maintenance in the amount of $5,000 to cover the cost of a sewer flusher repair and a sewer repair.
The sewer flusher broke down four times in April and is now broken and the manufacturer was scheduled to repair it. The sewer repair was a also a big expense because it required two contractors.
The sewer maintenance balance was $3,734 and the sewer treatment balance was $11,827.
A transfer from Board of Health expenses to Board of Health salary in the amount of $150,000 to make the agent's salary line whole by June 30.
A transfer from Group Health Insurance Expenses to Employee Fringe Benefits Salaries in the amount of $10,000 to replenish vacation payout. There were several employees who left this year who paid out their vacation time.
The Group Health Insurance Expenses balance was $195,938 and the Employee Fringe Benefits Salaries balance was $2,182.
A transfer in the amount of $5,000 from the Group Health Insurance Expenses to the Town Insurance Expenses to cover a $2,500 deductible and anything else that may arise before the end of the year.
The Group Health Insurance Expenses balance was $185,938 and the Town Insurance Expenses balance was $795.
A transfer from Vocational Education Expenses to Central Supply Expenses in the amount of $3,000 to cover the cost of toner, paper, and office supplies.
"I talked to [Patrick Pettit, building and grounds superintendent] was in a panic because we're starting to run out of paper." Drosehn said, "He was holding off and it was just terrible. Most of this is probably going to be go for paper"
The Vocational Education Expenses current balance was $92,500 and the Central Supply Expenses balance was $60.
They also approved a transfer in the amount of $2,500 from Vocational Education Expenses to Information technology expenses to cover the cost of maintenance and hardware.
The Vocational Education Expenses current balance is $9,5000 and the Information technology expenses balance is $5,252.
Tags: Finance Committee,
