In the event Rochester cannot hold Town Meeting as scheduled on Monday, June 22, Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar was advised to request approval for a “one-twelfth” budget for July 1, 2020, the start of FY21. Szyndlar told the Board of Selectmen during its May 7, remote-access meeting that she intends that presentation of a one-twelfth budget will be on the agenda for the board’s next meeting, Monday, May 18, with cuts.
Selectman Woody Hartley asked for more specific information on what might be included in budget cuts, citing that real estate taxes account for approximately 70 percent of the town’s operating budget.
“We do not need the public to start speculating… that’s the worst thing that can happen right now,” said Hartley.
Szyndlar said she will meet again with the Rochester Finance Committee, but explained her process.
“This is an ever-changing situation here, and we don’t have much guidance on revenue numbers coming from the state,” she said. “We did get a little bit of some budgetary developments and a letter came in from Senator Michael Rodrigues, and they’re predicting big shortfalls.”
Thusly, Szyndlar based her one-twelfth budget on conservative revenues.
“I was not looking at any layoffs, any furlough… It was basically keeping it as is and covering the necessary expenditures, in other words the school, our fixed costs and keeping it as is,” she said. “Well, as time has gone on, we know that we do have some buildings that the programs aren’t continuing. It may be a little while before they continue so we’ll look at that. We’ll look at, possibly, areas that are… not needed at this point in time, and maybe some additional things in the budget that we can forgo until the fall.”
Hartley clarified that Szyndlar is not suggesting cutting into school or safety budgets.
“Everything is unknown right now. We’re working with unknown revenues, the state can’t give us much guidance so we’re trying to build something that we don’t have enough information as far as where we’re going to end up with cuts from the state,” she said. “So we continue to do a conservative budget and, as we know more, we can work with the budget. As we know more, we go into the next fiscal year and, (if) things become much more severe than what we anticipated, at that point in time we can start doing some spending freezes, some looking at more programs and seeing where else we need to go.”
Szyndlar acknowledged the potential for next steps that might include renegotiating contracts or the changing of policies for the use of the town’s reserve revenues or the use of its stability fund.
“All things are on the table at this time,” she said. “I wish I knew more. People can imagine things, but we have to be realistic. We’re in unprecedented times right now. There’s a lot of unknowns.”
Hartley acknowledged the unknown quantity, “but people will start speculating. They’ll be throwing out, ‘Oh, they’d better not do this’ and ‘They’d better not do that,’” he told Szyndlar. “I agree that we will not know probably until the day before Town Meeting what the Finance Committee and you as our CEO are going to recommend to the members of Town Meeting what we do. But we don’t want people to be overly concerned at this point.”
The positive side of the coin, explained Szyndlar, is Rochester’s financial strength.
“As dire as this is with the revenues, I’d like to point out that fiscally we’re in the best shape for a town to weather this storm. We’ve been really working on our reserves, our financial policies, building up our free cash, not using free cash to balance our budget. We’re playing by the rules and… by the recommendations of the state as far as best practices so we are in much better shape than I think a lot of cities and towns are in,” she said. “We don’t rely on a meals tax, which is a big plus for us at this point in time because any of the cities and towns that have meals tax, that revenue has disappeared. We don’t rely on a marijuana tax payment so that’s a plus for us. Looking at our revenues, we don’t have some things against us, we’re in better shape.”
In keeping with a requirement under the state’s COVID-19 Relief Fund to ensure that Rochester will be reimbursed for non-budgeted, coronavirus-related expenditures, the Board of Selectmen authorized Szyndlar to send a letter to the state director of accounts, Division of Local Services, requesting written approval to pay emergency liabilities in excess of appropriation (not budgeted by Rochester).
Under MA General Law 44, Section 31, no department financed by municipal revenues is allowed to incur liabilities in excess of appropriation except in cases of major disaster such as the COVID-19 state of emergency declared by Governor Baker on March 10.
Town Counsel Blair Bailey noted that Rochester has the SEMASS payment that will continue and may increase with the amount of waste being processed. “Our payments are good,” he said.
Bailey explained that a one-twelfth budget cannot include anything that requires Town Meeting approval or include any new number not in the present (FY20) operating budget. Automatic raises and step raises are different because union contracts have already been approved, “but cost-of-living adjustments cannot be in there until Town Meeting passes it,” he said.
All the COVID-19-related expenditures in the departments and the schools are being dedicated and earmarked as non-budgeted expenditures per Cares Act requirements.
In other business, the board approved the appointment of Robert Orr as a part-time police officer, along with the reappointments to three-year posts for full-time officers Brendan Emberg, Kevin Flynn, and Alyson Rego.
The Board of Selectmen officially postponed the town’s Memorial Day festivities and, at the suggestion of Vice Chairman Brad Morse, is angling toward Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11.
“I think we should plan on not doing anything and sometime in mid-August let’s talk about holding it on Veterans Day since ours tends to relate around veterans, but I don’t think we should have that discussion until we see where things are headed, but end of July and August start talking again,” said Morse.
According to Bailey, the Board of Health is working on a plan with the fire department going ahead with the annual clamboil fundraiser on a drive-through, pickup scenario.
Hartley suggested it’s time for a meeting of department heads, and Szyndlar said she would reach out to see when that can happen.
Anticipating one-on-one meetings with hearing-impaired clients, Council on Aging Director Cheryl Randall-Mach sought verification on the town’s policy requiring facemasks inside town buildings. There is a segment of the COA’s clientele reliant on lip-reading.
Bailey confirmed that Rochester does require facemasks, but acknowledging that the spirit of the order is for when social distancing is not possible and that those who rely on lip reading sit farther apart than six feet and see if they can effectively communicate.
Having attended the Plymouth County Commissioners meeting, Board of Selectman Chairman Paul Ciaburri exuded confidence as he reported that the distribution of the $90,000,000 under the CARES Act to reimburse towns for expenditures is expected to be up and running by the end of June.
“I have faith in them. They run a pretty tight ship,” said Ciaburri. “This isn’t the first time they’ve parceled out money. They have adequate people… I personally support them. They seem to have a great plan. I listened to them… they answered all my questions.
“None of this money can be used to balance budgets. You have to prove that you spent this money before you can get reimbursed so what Suzanne has done from the start is keep excellent track of this, plus all of the department heads. We’re in pretty good shape, considering.”
The Rochester Board of Selectmen will go back on a Monday schedule starting with its next meeting scheduled for 11:00 am Monday, May 18.
Rochester Board of Selectmen
By Mick Colageo