STERLING Barring a major financial crisis, Sterling nonunion employees should receive a 3% cost of living increase in the next fiscal year, in keeping with the contracts for union employees.
The Select Board approved the number for using in town budgeting.
Joseph King, a member of the Finance Committee said that was the figure included in the omnibus budget they were developing.
“It would have to be significant to change that,” King said.
The Select Board had put off a vote on the COLA at the last meeting due to uncertainty about some aspects of the budget, although Chair Maureen Cranson advocated going ahead with the 3% regardless.
While the Wachusett Regional School District budget proposal is currently at 6.4%, Select Board member John Kilcoyne said the superintendent is aware that the figure is too high. He said the superintendent was told the towns would not budget more than 4%; Sterling is hoping the increase is closer to 3%.
The Worcester Regional Retirement Board is being told the same: 3%.
Town Administrator Bill Caldwell said the regional board, which handles municipal retirees, voted a local option of 5%, which would be approved if two-thirds of the towns in the system approve the increase. The group claims the assessment would not be increased until the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Caldwell said he recommended not supporting it, stating that other communities have not supported it.
The town currently has 62 retirees in the system.
The Sterling Select Board voted to deny the 5%, with Kilcoyne abstaining. If the retirees do not get the 5%, they would get 3%.
The increase would be retroactive to July 1, 2022, Caldwell said.
Voting hours May 8 Voting hours for the May 8 election have been set for noon to 7 p.m. May 8 at the Houghton School.
The Select Board had postponed a final vote at the last meeting, hoping to find out why expanded hours were not possible. Some voters have said they prefer to vote before work and that a 7 p.m. closing makes it difficult to get there after work if they work out of town.
Town Clerk Kathy Farrell provided a financial report on longer hours, saying the election registrars agreed “shorter hours made more sense,” Select Board Chair Maureen Cranson said. One shift of workers (either 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. or noon to 7 p.m., would save about $3,415. Farrell confirmed it was not feasible to hold split hours, such as 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m.
State law requires that polls are open for at least four hours. More than one shift, and the number of people, in addition to food costs, would increase.
With seven hours of voting, plus counting time, that would include for nine hours: 20 election officials at $15 an hour, or $2,400; a warden at $19 an hour, or $171; a constable at $16 an hour, or $144; a police office at $50 an hour, or $450; and food for workers, $250.
Mail-in ballots are available from the town clerk’s office for anyone who wants to vote prior to election day. Monday, May 1, is the last day to apply for a mail-in ballot, absentee or early, and they must be returned to the clerk’s office the hour that polls close.
Anyone can vote absentee in person by noon on Friday, April 29, in the clerk’s office.
The cost to the town of mailing a ballot is 84 cents each.
