BERLIN — Concerned that the rapidly rising cost of running the town will test taxpayers’ tolerance in March, select board members have instructed Town Administrator Vince Conti to “dig deeper” in an effort to bring a proposed budget increase below 10%.
Shooting for a “single-digit” increase may sound like a low bar, but Monday night’s budget session opened with board members eyeing an 18% spending increase and ended after they concluded trimming it to 13% wasn’t going to cut it.
What emerged as the consensus view was first expressed by board member Flo Smith.
“I think we need to dig deeper,” Smith said, suggesting the $186,000 in budget reductions proposed by Conti as the meeting was winding down still left a vulnerable budget with a bulging bottom line.
“I think a 13% increase is too much for taxpayers,” she said.
Carl Parton agreed.
Though Parton is newer to the town board, he recalled serving as chair of the Berlin School Board when voters — for the first time in forever — rejected a school budget that reflected a 14% increase due largely to a bond issue they’d previously approved.
“Once you get into double digits, it’s going to be a hard sell,” he predicted.
Pressed for a target increase, Parton said anything less than 10% — even if it was “9.99%” — would do.
Smith said she wasn’t so sure, and suggested the Conti try to limit the proposed increase to between 5.4% and 7.3%. That range is more than the 3% increases voters have grown accustomed to, but comfortably below 10%.
“It needs to be palatable,” she said of the proposed spending increase. “If we have it too high, it (the budget) is not going to be approved.”
By then it was pretty clear the short list of budget reductions offered up by Conti would be dropped from the spending plan and the members suggested he consider tapping pandemic-related federal funding the town received under the American Rescue Plan Act to offset other expenses.
Though the Public Works Board had hoped for a $60,000 taxpayer subsidy to help finance planned expansion of the water system, board members didn’t object to dropping an expense Chair Brad Towne suggested was at odds with assurances the municipal water system would pay for itself.
“Is it really in the spirit of what we agreed to when we started down the road to have the water system?” he asked of the $60,000 expense.
Conti’s 13% alternative also dropped plans to hire a part-time zoning enforcement officer — a $26,000 expense — and reduced funding for the town’s capital plan by $100,000.
Board members agreed the $558,000 in remaining ARPA funds could be used as an alternate source of revenue for a depleted capital budget that, even with the proposed $100,000 cut, still reflects a 7% increase.
That isn’t all the ARPA funds could be used for. Confronted with a budget that includes 8% pay raises for an expanded administrative staff, board members floated the possibility for reducing the budgeted increase and offering retention bonuses using ARPA money to make up the difference.
Conti said on Tuesday that likely will be part of the revised plan he’ll present to the board for its consideration next week. He said he also is considering using ARPA money to pay for the assistant treasurer’s position that was one of two unbudgeted positions that were created and filled by the board last year.
Two of those positions — the assistant treasurer and a ninth police officer — are in the budget for the first time this year. The third — the town’s newly hired public works director — is a position that will be paid by users of the municipal water and sewer systems.
The addition of positions that weren’t included in the voter-approved budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30, is contributing to the outsized increase reflected in the evolving proposal voters will be asked to approve on Town Meeting Day.
The extra officer and a recently settled labor agreement are largely responsible for a projected 17% increase in the town’s unionized police department. The cost of that department alone is approaching $1.5 million. Police wages are projected to increase nearly $130,000, and the cost of health insurance is slated to climb more than $56,000 for the department.
Even after cutting the half-time zoning position, the increase in the cost of day-to-day administration is expected to increase nearly 16%. Though that number could come down if Conti uses ARPA money to pay for the recently created assistant treasurer’s position. Wages for the position currently reflect nearly $50,000 in new spending, and it is partly responsible for an additional $24,000 increase in health insurance expenses.
While ARPA money to cover some budget reductions is a one-year solution board members said they could support, most lamented voters narrow rejection of charter change that would have paved the way for a full complement of local option taxes in Berlin. Had the charter change passed late last year, estimates suggest it would have generated roughly $600,000 in new revenue through the imposition of a new 1% tax on sales, rooms, meals and alcohol.
Voters, who had previously defeated similar ballot measures, did again in November — though the 556-627 result was much closer than earlier attempts and had board members discussing reviving the measure.
Smith said she would have supported putting it on the Town Meeting Day ballot, but it is too late to do that and Conti wondered whether additional education is required to avoid another failed vote.
Selectman Joe Staab said he would entertain investing in a promotional effort to pitch the measure to skeptical residents.
“At some point, we’re going to have limited funds available,” he said.
“We’re there now,” Smith and Conti said almost in unison.
Town Treasurer Diane Isabelle sure made it sound that way.
Though Isabelle said the audit of the fiscal year that ended last July isn’t complete, what was once a $1.4 million surplus has been depleted and likely will be closer to $400,000. That is less than the $450,000 the board used as a source of budget revenue when setting the current tax rate last year.
Isabelle said she wouldn’t recommend using any fund balance to provide property tax relief during the coming fiscal year. The board has yet to discuss the tax rate implications of the budget and has focused solely on spending.
The discussion is scheduled to resume next Monday.
david.delcore @timesargus.com
