DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee last week discussed increases in next year's budget from software updates and changes that improve security. 

 

It approved an amended version of the Police Department budget with an to increase to $1,535,256. 

 

The Select Board previously approved a proposed budget of $1,540,255, a 2.96 percent increase. 

 

The salaries budget is increasing 2.39 percent bringing it to $1,349,148, because of contractual increases and an 8 percent specialty assignment pay.

 

The specialty assignment pay was budgeted to cover the salary increase for one of the current officers who will receive training to become a detective. 

 

The department budgeted $191,108 in expenses, a 7.12 percent increase from last year. However, the Finance Committee decreased the cruiser maintenance line item by $5,000, lowering it to $186,108.

 

The cruiser maintenance line item was decreased from $25,000 to $20,000 since the newer fleet of vehicles has less maintenance required.

 

A driving factor for increases is the cost of software and cell service, Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson said. 

 

In October 2022, the Select Board approved the utilization of Lexipol software that helps police departments with their accreditation process required by the police reform legislation. Certification is required to obtain accreditation status through the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission.

 

Original cost estimates to meet these standards have increased significantly because the department will have to utilize more advanced policy and procedure software capable of monitoring for updates on changes of best practices and case, state, and federal laws. 

 

The annual cost of this software is $8,139. 

 

The Finance Committee approved the Town Planner budget in the amount of $64,375, a 9.23 percent increase from fiscal 2024. 

 

The department budgeted $58,650 for salaries, a 4.29 percent increase from last year. This increase is due to a pay rate increase, a 2 percent cost of living increase, and an increase in the number of days worked. 

 

The expenses line item is increasing to $5,725, a $3,025 change from last year. The cause of this is the cost of the ArcGISPro software. 

 

The town did not have to budget for this software previously because the former town planner was able to use this software from his alma mater. 

 

The software will allow the new town planner, Janko Tomasic, to do a lot more work regarding planning and zoning to help other departments in various ways, Hutcheson said. 

 

The town also uses this software for the assessor's program, which it plans to build on. The program uses the same software but under a different license.

 

"We will be able to create very, I believe, very useful visual demonstrations and maps, of any number of things that people are interested in," Hutcheson said. 

 

This could help a number of departments including the Historical Commission, Board of Health, Police Department, and more. 

 

"It's not just for the planning department, in other words, but we also need to upgrade our zoning maps [Berkshire Regional Planning Commission] did a basic job but we need a little more detail in some of the maps that we have now and we need to upgrade things as well," Hutcheson said. 

 

All the other expense items remained level funded from last year. 

 

Finance Committee member Michael Lacker warned that there may be some additional budget items that need to be taken into consideration for the information technology budget due to cybersecurity improvements. 

 

The state has changed its security requirements to access the Criminal Justice Information System, which is stored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

Any of the computers that access the system are going to need to be in compliance. Someone from the state determined that the department has to implement minor changes to be in compliance, Lacker said. 

 

The town's fiber optic project has laid the groundwork for these changes as it built a lot of the security needed for these new requirements because the Police Department has its own network,