By JEFF EPSTEIN
[email protected]
WEATHERSFIELD, Vt. — Many communities are beginning their 2019 – 2020 budget cycle, and the select board here is reviewing first drafts of department budgets.
The town is in an unusual position regarding its fire budget, in that it has two versions. The fire commission has been suspended pending the creation of a single municipal fire department with a paid full-time chief. Town Manager Ed Morris has drafted a budget for that, and is in the process of tweaking it as numbers such as benefits for the chief get revised.
However, the fire commission drafted its own regular budget request before it was suspended and gave the select board the option of presenting either or both budgets to the town meeting. Although the select board has committed to the creation of a municipal fire department, it could choose to publish the fire commission request — which is for two volunteer departments — alongside the actual new request — which is for a municipal department — in order to clearly show to taxpayers the impact of the change.
Some members of the board have stated that the town meeting is the ultimate arbiter of creating a new municipal fire department, and previous town meetings have voted down similar proposals.
The Ascutney Volunteer Fire Department remains opposed to the creation of the new municipal department, which would not actually be a merged department if the association refuses to contribute its resources.
The budget created by the fire commission assumes revenue of $500, leaving out insurance reimbursements for both the Ascutney and West Weathersfield departments. Personnel expenses in this draft are figured at about $6,127, approximately the same as the current budget. Office expenses would be roughly $2,500 higher, including a 15-percent increase in the cost of dispatching.
Overall, the estimated cost for the total of town funding for both departments would be $159,788. The total for the current budget is $148,849.
Even if this were the active budget request, those numbers would be subject to adjustment by the select board before going to town meeting as part of the overall budget request.
The Morris draft budget for the municipal department assumes a salary for the chief at roughly $60,000, with benefits costing $22,827 on a family health plan. The chief would also receive a retirement contribution of $3, 452. Three line items for employment costs including workman’s compensation come to $19,395. The total estimated cost of the chief is $105,712.
The new department is assumed to have certain inherent costs, such as uniforms and office expenses. The Morris budget carefully accounts for such expenses.
The total for fire equipment and maintenance comes to $93,451. One line item there of $9,000 exists for equipment purchases, presumably to compensate the volunteer departments for their fire trucks and other equipment.
Altogether, the projected cost of the new municipal department so far is $258,425, and it would add a few fractions of a penny to the tax rate.
Police budget
The police draft budget figures revenue at $17,000, about the same as previous years. Estimated personnel expenses are about $248,00, a few thousand dollars higher than the current budget, and most other expenses are about the same. Total estimated expenses are $300,717, a tiny bit higher than the current budget.
The select board will consider requests from other departments as it works its way through the FY20 budget cycle.
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