~ The Advocate Asks ~

Saugus selectmen offer their individual impressions of the town manager’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 operating budget

  Editor’s Note: For this week’s column, we put this question to each member of the Board of Selectmen: What’s your take on the town manager’s proposed budget? What do you like? What are your chief concerns, if any? Here’s what they had to say:

Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta

I appreciate all the hard work that went into preparing the FY 2025 operating budget. This preliminary budget will now be given to the Finance Committee, where they must receive the budget by March 1 per our Charter. Our Finance Committee will have multiple, public meetings to review each budget in detail.

We do see some additional funds being recommended in certain line items, like repairs & maintenance of playgrounds, and repairs & maintenance of street paving, which is needed.

Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Jeffrey Cicolini

As stated, it is still very early in the process with so many unknowns. Local aid, local receipts, permits, fees are all best guesses this early. I sincerely appreciate the Manager and his team’s conservative approach to budgeting as it protects us from overextending ourselves and having unforeseen cuts if revenue estimates are too high. I was pleased to see many positions have been filled this year and we are adding to our DPW crew and other departments. Also, allocating an additional $1.5mm to the schools in addition to the related increases in pension and health insurance for school employees and retirees (schedule 19) essentially equates to allocating an additional $2.5mm to $3mm in total to the school department. It appears all department requests were granted and in some cases the manager’s budget is higher than the department recommended. I am sure things will get pinned down as we get further in the budget cycle but from what I see now I am very optimistic.

Selectman Corinne Riley

The Town Manager has always had a good plan for town finances. I’m very happy that there are only a couple of open positions that need to be filled, and I would like to see the manager fill the positions in the Planning and Economic Development department. I am also glad to see that his proposed budget includes a significant increase to the School Department, and I’m sure the school administration for the district will work hard to increase the level of education for our students.

My concern is at the state level. Earmarks obtained by State Representatives have already been reduced due to financial issues at the state level, but I am hopeful that local aid will not be decreased.

I look forward to having an update meeting with the town manager soon, to hear his plan addressing the agreed-upon goals of the board and the town manager, especially discussing the plans for parks and playgrounds, and a mass notification system to push timely updates out to residents. The Golden Hills playground has been in need of replacement for a very long time, and improved communication to residents are both top priorities for the Board and the Manager. I also am looking forward to that meeting to address the plan for our vacant school buildings.

Selectman Michael Serino

I thought that the Town Manager’s proposed budget to the Board of Selectmen was a fairly standard presentation. There were no surprises to me. As always the challenges are in the area of the Town’s fixed costs such as, health insurance, pension contribution and our regional school assessment costs. The most significant challenge we face will be how to pay for the construction of the new Northeast Regional Vocational School. Saugus’s share is estimated around 3 million dollars a year. This does not include the cost to send more students to the expanded 400 student facility.

However, the Town’s revenue stream consisting of property and excise tax revenue, new growth and local receipts seem to remain steady and strong. Although, our State aid revenue increased by about 4 million since last year. I am concerned about the financial condition of the State. Over the past several months, reports have surfaced that the State is lacking in revenue receipts and the costs to house and feed the migrant population has put a financial strain on the State. I am concerned this might have an impact on local aid receipts to cities and towns. Unfortunately, local aid numbers are usually not finalized until late summer.

In conclusion, the budget that the Selectmen approved is a preliminary budget. As the budget process moves forward, the budget will continue to be adjusted as necessary so that we have a balanced budget. Your Town Meeting Members will have the final approval of the budget.