Town Spending Requests Surpass Annual Budget

Town government departments gave their list of major spending needs to Selectmen Tuesday night. They totaled $3 million.

"This is a preliminary review of requests," Town Administrator William Friel said after the meeting. "There's clearly not enough money available to meet those requests."

The biggest budget buster is the Shepard Pond dam project, at an estimated cost of $2 million. The state's Office of Dam Safety has found the dam unsafe. It leaks and, in high rain, it floods Washington Street near Cobb's Corner.

Chairman of Selectmen John Connolly recommended the Department of Public Works remove the project from its capital plan so the town can deal with it separately. According to Friel, State Rep. William Galvin, D-Canton, continues to search for state money to help lessen the burden on the town.

Of the remaining $1.059 million, the town has a projected $364,000 available with a borrowing limit of only $157,000. Taking out the dam project, the town can afford to spend $521,000. The requests total $538,000 more.

The requests will go next to the Finance Committee, which will make recommendations to Selectmen by their Dec. 27 meeting. Selectmen will make recommendations to the annual spring Town Meeting.

The Department of Public Works had the largest spending request. DPW superintendent Michael Trotta proposed spending $551,000 on new equipment. That included a brush chipper, two small dump trucks, a sidewalk tractor to remove snow and brush, repair of a truck bed, a truck for the highway supervisor, an asphalt hot box and a message board. He also proposed spending $3.9 million on equipment and projects covered by revolving enterprise funds, outside the cash and debt process.

Fire Chief Charles Doody requested a continuation of the lease payments on two SUVs, the purchase of a new SUV and the replacement of mobile radios at a cost of $53,000.

Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz requested new bullet-resistant vests at a cost of $7,300, of which he expects to receive 50 percent reimbursement from the state. He said his department also needs four new cruisers. He made a request for a new product -- covers for the bullet-resistant vests that also transfer some of the weight of weapons belts from waist to shoulder, limiting back injuries.

Other requests were made as follows:

• The Conservation Commission proposed expanding the parking lot at Pequitside Farm by removing the unused tennis courts.
• The Recreation Commission proposes replacing a 1990 tractor, continue the fifth year of a field re-sodding program, servicing the pool, replacing a mower and rehabbing the compressor at the ice rink.
• The library has run out of meeting space, with more than 500 requests for rooms last year. It proposes building a wall with two doors and a divider to enclose a 25-by-18-foot space.
• In its first capital expense request in decades, the Board of Health wants a small, four-cylinder SUV marked as a town vehicle to get to emergencies.