Mattapoisett’s Special Town Meeting began on Monday night with a tongue-in-cheek comment from longtime moderator Jack Eklund. “We have a slogan this year … land of the brave, home of the free cash.” However, the amount of free cash the town is enjoying presently is no joke, approximately $2,000,000.
That sum has come from conservative spending and grants received from federal programs meant to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Through long months of studying and reviewing financial needs, cash receipts and federal grants by the Finance Committee, Select Board and Capital Planning, that conservative approach was maintained as the warrant was drafted. In the end, the process produced a Fall Town Meeting warrant hovering around $1,400,000, nearly all of which was passed and all of which would be stashed away in stability funds before the night was over.
However, one non-cash related article, Article 9 that would accept the amended and restated Regional Agreement of the Old Rochester Regional School District, garnered the most attention before it, too, was passed by Mattapoisett voters.
Coming forward to explain with as much brevity as possible the complicated funding methodology of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) was ORR School Committee Chairperson Heather Burke, who spoke to the need of reviewing and bringing up to date the 1986 agreement, then moved onto the matter of funding.
Burke confessed that, although she had been serving on the committee for a number of years, it took her a long time to fully understand the formulas used by the state for Chapter 90 funding. Of the updated agreement, she pointed to four significant changes: start and stop dates of school committee terms, the creation of a capital improvement stability fund, use of three-year rolling enrollment figures, and the one-man, one-vote agreement.
Questions of how cities and towns are evaluated by the state for funding arose from the floor, prompting response from ORR Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howard Barber to address Town Meeting. Barber’s pace summarizing the complex processes including socioeconomics and a myriad of other factors prompted at least one plea from in the audience to slow down. Barber apologized, acknowledging that for him such matters come easily but appreciating the need to help others in understanding the formula.
Barber offered to stay on site after adjournment of Town Meeting for discussion with voters for as long as necessary, but Town Administrator Mike Lorenco brought closure to the matter. “There is nothing we can do to change this calculation, it is set by the state,” said Lorenco.
Article 9 passed with 64 yes votes and one no.
Article 10, Approve Establishment of Stabilization Fund by Old Rochester Regional School District, previously passed at town meetings held in Marion and Rochester, was passed. This fund would be supported by the three district towns and managed by the ORR School Committee for capital repairs, renovations and improvements to ORR District school and associated facilities.
Article 11, Sewer Effluent Treatment $180,000, passed with little comment after Water and Sewer Superintendent Henri Renauld explained the additional expenses now owed to the Town of Fairhaven. In a follow-up, Renauld talked in greater detail about why costs are soaring, pointing to about the impact of sump pumps.
“One of our main concerns driving these costs up is the fact that many homes continue to have cellar drains or sump pumps connected to the sanitary sewer,” he said. “These pumps can pump thousands of gallons of groundwater into the sanitary sewer, which in turn must travel through numerous pump stations until it reaches the treatment facility. Then it must all be treated as sewer effluent due to the fact it has been mixed with the sewer effluent in the transmission mains and pump stations.
“The cost of sewer will continue to rise as new state mandates require communities to lower nitrogen output into our oceans to help protect the environment. However, to continue to add thousands of gallons of groundwater will only cause increased cost to the treatment process, and eventually those costs will be placed upon our residents.”
Passed for stabilization funds was Article 2, Debt Stabilization $150,000, and Article 3, Capital Stabilization $150,000. Other expenditures tucked money into OPEB Liability funding, $100,000, which now holds approximately $2,000,000, and Article 8, $50,000 for Grant Matching needs for projects deemed small enough to be handled outside the town meeting process.
Article 4, Cyclical Annual Property Revaluation and Town Mapping, passed for $36,000, a sum not acted upon during Town Meeting due to a pending decision of what impact COVID-19 will have on local coffers.
Other expenditures previously deferred but now passed were contained in Article 7, Capital Improvement Project Funding. Committee chairman Chuck McCullough said that a $650,000 new fire engine needs to be brought forward one year due to long lead times. He said that 18 months is currently being quoted for fire apparatus as well as for large trucks such as a Ford 550, $70,000, needed for the Highway Department. Also on the Capital Planning list and requested for approval on this night was a price tag of $40,000 for repairs to the Transfer Station loader.
Supplemental Funding to the FY22 budget was in Article 6 for four categories, $35,000 for unexpected additional employee benefits, $15,000 educational employee incentive (for CDL training of Highway Department for four staff members), $50,000 for town building repairs and renovations, and $7,000 for a new voting machine required due to redistricting by the state.
Article 5 also amended the FY22 budget by $57,000 with $30,000 being allocated for the Finance Committee Reserve Fund and $27,000 for a new part-time staffer for the Accounting Department.
Mattapoisett Special Town Meeting
By Marilou Newell