Board trims budget requests
Selectmen deny nearly $1 million in proposed items
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER
The Board of Selectmen last week denied just under $1 million in budget spending requests to avoid asking voters to approve an override at April's Town Meeting.

The Department of Public Works took the biggest hit when its request for an additional $720,000 for road improvements was turned down. The dollar amount was pegged to a 2005 pavement management study for the upkeep of town-owned roads. Town Manager Libby Gibson said the DPW will still have around $400,000 for road improvements, which include resurfacing, filling potholes and painting traffic lines, but will have to do without the additional request.

The roads maintenance portion was the largest piece of the requested pie to get the ax.

"It's a pay now, or pay later issue," said DPW director Jeff Willett. "In this economic climate, the selectmen had some very tough choices to make, and I understand that. The money for preventative maintenance is not there and we'll have to make do with what we have."

Selectman Brian Chadwick agreed with Willett's sentiment.

"It's really pay now or pay more later," said Chadwick. "But the board made a specific goal of having a zero base override budget and we had to make some tough choices. I don't necessarily like it. I would rather see it funded, but we have to live within our means."

Willett said there were around 10 island roads listed in the 2005 pavement report that were in need of an upgrade. He also said the report gave the town's roads a "B or B+" grade overall.

The requested $720,000 would have been used to resurface roads in a more advanced stage of disrepair. Resurfacing is less costly than a total repave and also extends the life of the road.

"It's cheaper to overlay an inch of asphalt," said Willett. "But the money is just not available, maybe we can catch up on it next year."

Also at the special budget meeting, the board briefly talked about asking voters - in the form of a capital override - to approve some road repair funding but the idea fizzled.

Other ways to reduce the proposed operating budget by a total of $1.3 million were found. A reevaluation of the price of purchasing town employee health insurance, for instance, reduced the increased cost estimate from $400,000 to $200,000. A $94,000 expense request for new police vehicles will instead be put to voters as an override question.

Additionally, the practice of giving staff and visitors free meals at Our Island Home will stop. The board is hoping the move will bring in an additional $50,000 in revenue.

Selectman Michael Kopko, who has been adamant in presenting voters with a budget that does not require an override, said he hoped to use this year's budget as a zero base line projection on which the board will plan a five year budget with perhaps one sizable override and then commit to not raising taxes beyond the limits of Proposition 2 1/2.

"I think we're looking at this budget as a place setting for a long term budget," he said. "Maybe we will have to have one lump sum override next year, but then we need to make a projection on a five year budget and stick to it."

Chadwick disagreed.

"As one selectman, I am absolutely against an override," he said. "We need to live within our means."

The board did not cut two major programs that had been under consideration, the Teen Center and Adult Community Day Care. Had the programs been cut, both had the possibility to be saved by being taken over by other island organizations.

Another item on the chopping block that was saved $75,000 for a communications director for the police department. I