by Frank Schroth

It took the Warrant Committee two nights to get through their annual “all day” meeting. The meeting was pushed from its traditional Saturday to last Monday and Wednesday evenings. The sessions were arduous. In the end the committee voted on budgets, one time allocations for departments, and articles requiring appropriations. Here are some highlights:

Tom Hurley, Chair of the Board of Selectmen, and Annmarie Fagan, interim Town Administrator, through a bit of a wrench in the proceedings when they informed the committee that there was a .5% one time salary adjustment that had not been accounted for. This required recalculating department budgets to include the amount. The committee was taken aback. “You’re teling us no budgets have this in it for FY14?” asked WC member Ted Hayes. “This is out of the blue for us,” commented Member Darnell Turner and member Cheryl Tougias said, “We have been looking at these budgets since the first of December and this is the first we have heard of this  .  .  . this puts quite a wrench into our thinking”. The amount that needed to be factored in was ~$70K. After some discussion Ms. Fagan went to her office and printed out the adjustments. The committee then went through each department to determine the proper adjustment.

The schools had requested $3 million above a level funded budget. The committee is recommending ~ $2 million (a $1.5 million increase in operating budget and $440,000 in one time money). The schools will need to make cuts. They had outlined possible cuts based on different funding levels. You can find that presentation here. Note that this presentation was done prior to knowing the specific amount the Warrant Committee would recommend. The School Committee will be discussing the impact of the recommended budget at their upcoming meetings.

Update on financial matters from Senator Joyce. Senator Joyce appeared and made several points:

• Local aid account for about 10% of Milton’s budget. The Warrant Committee was estimating 98.9% of last year’s state aid for FY14 Senator Joyce felt comfortable that they could estimate 100% of that number.
• He also anticipates increases to Chapter 90 (Schools) and Chapter 70 (roads and infrastructure) funding though he could not make any guarantees.
• He expressed his support for merchants in East Milton Square who have been asking for additional parking for years.He reviewed briefly the status of the deck as a park and a change in the law that allows for the existence of a park and additional parking on the deck. He strongly supports the initiative and expressed his hope that financing whether from a Warrant Committee recommendation or a Capital Improvement request would be forthcoming. (Note: The Warrant Committee voted a $0.00 appropriation. Last night  (2/19), according to Bill Clark, Town Planer, the Capital Improvement committee voted to add $300,000 to the project. 
• The Mass highway yard may come into Milton’s possession. There is already a committment to provide Milton with 6acres of the yard. Senator Joyce is hopeful that the town may be able to take over all 11 acres of it. He recommends that the Board of Selectmen appoint a committee to evaluate possible uses that protect the quality of life and generate much needed tax revenue.

There were some vigorous discussions regarding the allocation of one time funds. Some members wanted more time to review the requests and vote at a future time. Others felt that the committee had heard as much as they needed to hear and had given the departments ample time. Member Cahill said, “We have to press forward as hard as it is – we are pressed for time and we have to start writing the warrant.” “We have to press forward as hard as it is – we are pressed for time and we have to start writing the warrant.”
Carolyn CahillThere was also discussion about whether one time money should be earmarked for specific requests versus simply granting the money to a department and letting them use at their discretion. The committee decided to allocate the money then and voted the amounts be used for the specific purposes identified by the departments. The schools were the largest beneficiary of one time money, receiving $440,000. $195,000 of that will go toward curriculum materials for their STEM initiative and literacy achievement. The library received $44,000 for collections, the police $32,148 for overtime, and the DPW $20,000 for retro-reflectivity assessment – essentially performing a town wide count of signs that need to conform to requirements that they be reflective.

The committee also voted to recommend the following appropriations for specific articles:

• $100,000 for the second phase of the Milton Master Plan
• $1,000,000 for a stabilization fund to cover health care costs associated with injured firefighter
• $175,000 cemetery land purchase (Copeland fund)
• $0.00 amounts for Housing production plan which Member Darnell Turner characterized as “an exercise in futility”($30,000 had been requested) , East Milton Square design ($300,000 had been requested), Fire station study ($20,000 had been requested)