Hopedale discusses possible override
By Theresa Knapp
As municipal budget season kicks into full gear, Hopedale town officials have started discussing the possibility of an override.
At the Select Board meeting on March 14, Town Administrator Diana Schindler said, “We don’t know for certain, this is just the first round/first draft of the budget, but yes there’s a deficit of about $500,000…that’s just what we need to balance this year’s budget.”
Schindler explained the budget process which includes asking department heads for their requested budgets for next year as well as a requested budget (a “wish list,” as coined by Select Board member Glenda Hazard). Schindler then compiles that information and provides it to the Finance Committee.
Select Board member Louis Arcudi III said he reviewed a recording of a FinComm meeting held in early March where that board was discussing a possible “$1.7 million override.” Schinder said she had spoken with the FinComm and surmised the reference to “$1.7 million” was likely the total of the “wish list” budgets for FY23.
“They were concerned when they saw some of the department budgets…With all of the department head estimates, just with year over year, there a gap in funding and then many of the departments have asked for additional staff or capital” above that, said Schindler. “New hires alone was just a little over $600,000 and then there were some capital items in the budgets as well.”
Schindler said, “There were some real reactions to that [data she presented] but I think, again, we do have to look at it this year over last year and then try to look at the additional requests separately.”
Schindler explained the town is early in the budget process and does not yet know what money it will receive from the state, but said the town has a firm grasp on its expenses and knows it will have at least $655,000 in free cash.
There is an article on the warrant for the March 26 special town meeting that discusses budget transfers. Arcudi said the FinComm discussed that and “It was somewhat disturbing, they looked at Article 1 and they said they were going to probably not recommend doing any of those adds.”
Schindler said any additions to the budget should be put before town meeting for a vote. Town officials expressed concern with the practice of relying on free cash within the annual budget, a concern that had been raised in previous years when seeking ways to cover a budget gap.
Hopedale budget “in the red”
Hopedale Select Board Chair Brian Keyes says the town cannot pay its bills.
“We are in a situation right now, fiscally and financially, we are in the red – like serious, like ‘race car’ in the red,” Keyes said at the board’s March 9 meeting in a conversation about whether to pursue additional legal action against the Grafton and Upton Railroad over land at 364 West Street. To date, cases related to that property have tipped the town’s legal budget, and the town has other legal bills as well.
“We are in this situation right now, that without a transfer of draining funds from another department, we cannot pay our legal bills. So that is one aspect, one dynamic, it’s one major responsibility that we have as a board in factoring in future action items. We can’t even settle current action items based on the fiscal condition of where we are with all of this litigation.”
