Proposed Budget Cuts Two Jobs

At the annual town meeting on May 1, voters will choose whether to approve a budget that would eliminate two town positions--one from the police department and one from the highway department.

At the Selectboard meeting last night, Board Chair Ted Murray presented a proposal that the town eliminate the sergeant’s position and rely on a full time chief and four reserve officers who would put in a total of 30 hours a week. With reduced fuel costs and with the final payment on the cruiser made, this would give an annual police budget of $93,510, a 28% drop from last year. Murray also proposed that the highway department eliminate one position.

While acknowledging the depth of these cuts (“This is a mean-spirited budget in a lot of ways.”), Murray argued that the town needs to make lasting, systemic cost reductions to avoid ongoing financial problems. He pointed out that eliminating two positions provides permanent reductions not only in salary but in benefits.

To support the cuts, Murray compared the police and highway budgets of Ashfield and two other comparably-sized local towns: Conway and Colrain. Last year Ashfield, with 1815 residents, spent $51.80 per citizen for police services while Colrain (1840 residents) spent $23.90 and Conway (1884) spent $35.97. For highway maintenance Ashfield, with 71 miles of road, spent $239,000 while Conway, also with 71, spent $191,000 and Colrain, with 79, spent $200,000.

During the open forum section of the meeting, Kurt Pichette questioned the highway numbers, asking if Murray had taken into consideration factors like the percentage of dirt roads (which are more expensive to maintain) or whether the other towns outsource their plowing or repairs. Murray said that he had not and stressed that his comparison was preliminary and needed further refinement.

The proposed budget contains other cuts. The percentage of health insurance costs for town employees paid by the town will be reduced from 75% to 65%. The town will not be purchasing new trash bags, having enough to last the year.

The Selectboard has also eliminated stipends for all elected officials, saying the decision makers should not be exempt from the cuts this year. The Finance Committee proposed restoring all stipends to one-half of their original levels. But the Selectboard did not agree with restoring any of the stipends for FY 2011. However, Dave DeHerdt stated that he would insure the issue of restoring stipends would be looked at again during the FY 2012 budgeting process. All members of the Finance Committee and Selectboard agreed that it was important to restore the stipends for elected positions in the future.

While the budget is not yet finalized, both the Selectboard and the Finance Committee agreed that the cuts were necessary to bring the budget into balance.

David King