PAXTON — Override: It has been talked about for several years as the town wrestled with increasing costs.
But this may be the year, with financial reality possibly being a choice between drastic cuts in town services or an operating override, that voters have to consider it.
The Select Board discussed the town’s finances at its Feb. 21 meeting, as the Finance Committee also gears up for further review of town spending.
But Select Board Finance Committee Chair Mark Love agreed the measure was all but inevitable.
Although numbers are not final yet, Select Board Chair Julia Pingitore said, “We know enough to realize that this year, we are not going to be able to find enough one-time revenue along with budget cuts to make the ends meet.”
“I think we’ve all seen this coming for a while,” member Kirk Huehls said. “It’s tough when you live in a small town that doesn’t have a lot of commercial revenue.”
“The only thing we’ve got to decide is if we meet this year’s shortfall,” member Carol Riches said of the override amount, or if the town chooses a number that will provide for the future.
“All we can do is get the information out there and hope that they agree our services are worth keeping, because if we don’t get an override, we will see cuts across the board we’ve never seen before,” Riches said.
Also bringing her perspective as Paxton’s former town administrator, Riches stressed the need to get information out “so an informed, educated decision can be made.”
Huehls added that “it’s important not to do a Band-Aid.”
“Any time you talk about taxes going up, it’s scary, especially for those on a fixed income. The alternative this year is scarier,” Pingitore said.
“It’s good that we’re on the same page,” Love said, adding it was unfortunate the situation was that the boards agreed on the need for an override.
“We can’t possibly cut our way to a balanced budget; there’s no way to make that happen,” Love said, noting the Finance Committee had work ahead of it.
“It’s got to be go big or go home; it’s got to be substantial,” Love said, adding that the figures driving the concerns did not include half a million dollars in “critical asks” before the Capital Improvements Planning Committee. “We’ve got to add that into the equation.”
Noting a lot of work in the weeks until voters tackle the budget at the May 6 annual town meeting and potentially the override at the May 13 town election, Love said, “I don’t see how we could miss having some type of override. We want that as a last resort at the smallest possible number.”
Love said that last year the budget was balanced by using $86,000 from the stabilization fund.
“We can’t do that; there’s not enough in there to avert an override this year,” Love said.
Pingitore said voters need to attend the May 6 town meeting, where the budget will be decided, and then the May 13 election that would need to approve any override that meeting voters approved using to balance the budget.
Voters should prepare to participate both days, she said.
“We have been trying to avoid a substantial override for longer than I have been on the board,” Pingitore said. “The last overrides passed were in 2018 and were small: $100,000 for the operating budget and $300,000 for the Wachusett budget. At that time, we recommended only enough to meet the need for that year. We have been doing the equivalent of living paycheck to paycheck, and not putting away for our future.”
Cuts, she said, “would be substantial and would have a devastating effect on the level of services provided to our residents. We would be looking at a much different town in terms of services offered.
“In my opinion, we have no choice this year but to recommend a sizable override,” she continued. “Given what we are seeing, we should look to pass an override that will not just sustain us for this year, and put us in substantially similar positions next year, and the year after, but one that will serve as a budget correction and end our reliance on one-time revenues so that we can plan for and stabilize our future as a town.”
