Politics & Government
General Override Amount Lowered to $1.44 Million for Winchester Residents
Because of an increase in state aid, the town decided to lower the override amount.
Facing a $3 million deficit for Fiscal Year 2012, the decided to put a general override question on the March ballot. A few weeks ago the board on the ballot and use $1.4 million in free cash to close the budget deficit.
Recently Governor Deval Patrick unveiled the state budget and it looks as though the town will be getting more money than what was expected. So, on the recommendation of Town Management – Acting Town Manager, Mary Ellen Lannon, Assistant Town Manager, Mark Twogood, and Town Counsel, Wade Welch – the board voted unanimously to lower March’s override number to $1.44 million.
That number, along with free cash, will solve Winchester’s budget problems for the next three years.
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Selectman Forrest Fontana urged the board to consider keeping the override number at $1.8 million, which would have helped close the eventual FY ’15 gap. The 2015 deficit is expected to be $1,692,111 with a $1.44 million override in March.
“The size of the deficit in ’15 concerns me,” Fontana said. “I prefer the four-year plan of $1.8 million because it gets it into that fourth year. It doesn’t leave a significant deficit in 2015.”
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According to Lannon, with a $1.44 million override, the town will have a surplus of $899,292 in FY ’12, which the town will use to cover the predicted $41,610 deficit in 2013 and the $858,376 shortfall in 2014.
The timing of the override also came into question. Fontana suggested moving it further back in the year, but the board decided to keep it on March 29 – the original date that was decided.
“We have to go under the assumption that we have once chance of passing the override,” Fontana said. “We could be looking at an operational override every four years, if we need another one in 2015 and we had one in 2007. I prefer November and not march because it’s so close to the
Selectman Jim Johnson explained that if the town were to push the override vote back to November, the School Department and Spring Town Meeting will have to go under the assumption that an override would fail. This would force the schools to make cuts at the end of the school year, even though an override vote could pass in November.
The schools have yet to set forth their suggested cuts, but here is what are the proposed cuts from the municipal side if an override fails:
Reduction Amount ADA/Human Resources $25K Library Reduction to min. certification $25K Public Safety (Police and Fire 35K each) $70K DPW (eliminate garage mechanic) $45K DPW (reduce maintenance, fields, grass-cutting) $55K Planning Board (elimination of additional studies) $30K Building Dept. (eliminate post permit position) $46K Building Dept. (elimination of building clerk) $20K MIS restructuring $40K Assessors (reduce clerical hours) $6K Planning Board (elimination of studies) $10K Board of Health (eliminate Substance Abuse Coalition) $31K Board of Health (eliminate Goose Program) $4K Winchester Hospital Wellness (reduction to programs) $7,500 Total $389,500If an override is to pass, here are a list of items that would be restored:
Restoration Amount Library restoration to meet minimum certification $25K Public Safety (Police and Fire 25K each) $50K DPW (restoration to maintenance, fields, grass-cutting) $55K Planning Board (restore profession services) $10K Board of Health (restore Substance Abuse Coalition) $31K Winchester Hospital Wellness $7,500 Total $178,500Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
