RUTLAND — Taxpayers may be looking at an override on the order of $2 million this spring in order to keep town services and avoid deep cuts that have been on the table.
With concerns about costs such as the proposed Wachusett Regional school budget, which ups Rutland’s school assessment substantially, the Select Board and Finance Committee met several times in the past weeks as the boards continue to crunch numbers and look at options.
The latest meeting before this week’s Landmark deadline, March 16, included discussing the expenses and trying to figure out how to offer a balanced budget to voters at town meeting.
At that point the vote was for a $2 million override of the Proposition 2xh tax limiting provision. That state law limits increases in taxes each year but also contains a provision allowing towns to increase the base tax levy as needed. That component was included as a functional mechanism for when voters opt to spend more than the increase of 2.5%, a figure put in place when the law was passed in 1982.
But the entire budget is in flux for the 2024 fiscal year.
“As far as I’m concerned, this budget is still Jell-o like, and we need more firmness to get us to the point where we can say this is where we’re at and this is what we’re going to do,” Finance Committee Chair Karen Nahrwold said March 9.
At that point, Interim Town Administrator Gary Kellaher said he was recommending an override of $1.9 million, which he said would impact the average home by about $500 per year. But he added that, in his opinion, the town should look more toward $3 million in order to provide for future capability and not return to taxpayers in the shorter term.
Narhwold said the town needed several iterations of the budget to offer voters.
If voters opt not to touch stabilization funds, for instance, a source which is being considered if an override does not pass, it would leave few options other than cuts.
“The override is for the security and well-being of the residents of Rutland,” Kellaher said.
But Finance Committee member Peter O’Malley said, “Some can’t afford it.”
He said people needed to get out and vote.
“If the override fails, it’s a philosophy of the town,” O’Malley said.
Officials noted residents had heard dire predictions of cuts in past years, but those did not happen, leading many to think there is money or a solution that will again present itself.
“Is this the year we really make the cuts?” O’Malley said.
Officials are looking at cuts, though they agreed that closing the library and the Council on Aging were not going to be considered. Predictions of those entities being shuttered have appeared in Facebook postings, but officials say it will not happen.
But employees throughout town could see their jobs cut. Those savings are not dollar-for-dollar savings, since unemployment costs then enter the picture.
And nonunion workers, not protected by a union contract, may see their raises eliminated.
Finance officials spent some time talking about the key expense increases driving much of the discussion.
Officials had gotten a presentation of the Wachusett Regional School budget, which includes a 9.55% increase in Rutland’s costs. But they were not happy and pointed to issues with financial numbers and what they saw as lack of information.
“I will do a better job of bringing the information to the towns and the committees,” Superintendent James Reilly said in response to their concerns.
Addressing previous budgets, Reilly said there were three big areas in which the district really spent over what it had planned: facilities, salaries and substitutes.
“I would share with you if we found a skeleton,” Reilly said. “It doesn’t mean there isn’t one, but we haven’t found it yet.”
There is still time for more adjustments, but without more funds to add in, and uncertainties outweighing definite figures as even the state aid figures could change, officials are trying to craft budgets to give town meeting voters options. One thing they want to do is ensure voters get accurate information and that they turn out for town meeting and the town election, where an override would need to pass, possibly taking advantage of mail-in voting to participate in decisions that will determine funding for departments and programs.
Comments noted that cutting activities and services would change the nature of the things that people moved to Rutland to enjoy.
But officials are limited in their ability to promote an override. They are only allowed to provide information, so promoting will have to be left to those residents who would be affected by the cuts, or whose town activities could be saved.
