Greenfield select board members met with the Budget Advisory Committee to comb through the proposed budget during a regular meeting Tuesday night.
The proposed budget sits at a little less than $2.294 million, which is about an $83,000 increase from its current budget.
The largest budget drivers are ambulance costs, state retirement increases, and warrant-article items, including a $62,000 proposal for construction work on the basement of the library.
“The budget is not finalized yet,” Town Administrator Aaron Patt said on Wednesday morning after the meeting.
The board made the decision at its meeting to take the budget home, review the document, and come back at its next meeting on Tuesday to make changes.
Its final proposed budget will go in front of the public during a budget hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Myron Steere, who is a member of the Budget Advisory Committee and the chair of the ConVal School Board, presented a future outlook of the district’s budget to the board during the meeting.
He said although administrators were able to decrease the budget by about $19,000 this year, which was largely accomplished through the renegotiation of its health care plan, the district will likely be forced to increase its budget in the future.
Steere said the district is facing declining student enrollment numbers, which has left seats, especially in its elementary schools, empty. The loss of students directly impacts adequacy grants the school receives from the state, which are allotted based off student-body population.
On top of shrinking state funding, the district also needs to address aging infrastructure at its 11 facilities.
“They’re going to need to spend some money,” Steere said of the situation.
Over the last five years, Steere said, administrators have worked diligently to keep the budget from spiking too high.
With costs at the district level projected to increase in the future, Steere suggested that the town look into ways to reduce town costs as a way to stabilize the tax rate.
Several ideas were brought forth, including regionalization of some of the town’s services, including to its police force or recycling center. Another budget committee member suggested changing the town’s cell phone reimbursement plan, or installing LED light fixtures in town buildings as a way to shrink electricity costs.
The board needs to cut about $12,000 or $13,000 from the budget in order to receive a dime on the tax rate, according to Patt.
Select board members agreed that’s a difficult task in a town that has historically kept its budget tight.
“There’s not a lot of extra fat to trim,” said Chair Margaret Charig Bliss.
Fire Chief David Hall approached the board during the meeting regarding a used ambulance that the department is interested in pursuing as a possible addition to its fleet.
The 1999 Ford E-450 four-wheel drive rescue vehicle is currently owned by the New Boston Fire Department. Hall said the vehicle will likely go out to bid in the next couple of weeks.
Hall said he has not inspected the vehicle in person, but plans to do so later this week. Once complete, he said he will report back to the board regarding his findings and make a recommendation on how to move forward.
Hall said the potential addition could upgrade three vehicles in total. If purchased, the vehicle would be used as the department’s front-line rescue.
“And then there is a domino effect and we are going to bounce some things down the line,” Hall said.
“At the end of this process the last truck is getting kicked out.”
With a little work, the department’s current rescue would become the utility truck, its current utility would become its brush truck and its current brush truck would be phased out of the line entirely.
Hall said that work done on those vehicles could happen in house.
The board agreed that Hall should continue to do his homework on the potential purchase and return to the board with more information.
Police cruiser
The board also discussed an idea brought forth by Police Chief Brian Giammarino at a past meeting to retain a cruiser if the public approves a warrant article for a new vehicle during Town Meeting.
If the plan shakes out, each officer would be assigned to their own cruiser.
The board said the cost of keeping a third cruiser in its fleet is negligible and said the trade-in value on the vehicle would be miniscule. Some also said having three cruisers could extend the life of a new vehicle.
Charig Bliss said it may be difficult to explain to voters at Town Meeting why it was purchasing a new cruiser when the old one is in working condition and slated to be kept on the road. But others said the vehicle has high mileage and that it would be unwise to keep it on the road with no back ups.
Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.