LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Finance Committee is OK with the proposed budgets for Police, Fire, and Highway Departments.

 

The committee reviewed the three budgets as it begins to pick through Town Manager Paul Sieloff's proposed $10.5 million budget. The Police Department budget is eyed for a $15,800 decrease; Highway is proposed to see around $27,000 increase and another $8,000 increase for winter roads; and the Fire Department is looking at a $5,600 increase.

 

Most of Monday's conversation centered on the Highway Department, with committee members querying the expenses for a number of lines. A new line to clean infiltration tanks on National and Profile streets accounts for a $5,000 increase. Highway Superintendent William Decelles said the department tried to do the cleaning in house but because of the chemicals present, it has to hire a specialist.

 

Finance Committee member Ronald Tinkham said the tanks are new and were installed to filter runoff going to Pontoosuc Lake. The cleaning is part of the maintenance, he said.

 

The committee also questioned a $10,000 line for drainage while only a quarter of that has been spent to date. Decelles said the drainage work was put off this year because all of the effort was focused on the massive water line project on Ore Bed Road. That line ultimately is being used to offset overruns in other lines.

 

"A lot of projects were put off because they were doing the big water line project," Sieloff said. "We have almost unlimited drainage issues in town."

 

One of those overruns was for blacktop, for which Decelles said costs came in some $3,000 more than budgeted. He says there will be more drainage work in the next fiscal year. 

 

The Highway Department is also seeing an increase to the winter roads account of $8,000. Sieloff said he's hoping to build that account up because every year the town runs a deficit — one of the few lines legally allowed to run in the red — which digs into the following year's budget.  

 

"Every year we shorted this budget and every year it had to go against the recap," Sieloff said. 

 

Last year, the department spent $193,000 on winter roads. Sieloff said when he took the job in Lanesborough that account was only at $80,000 and now it is up to $150,000.

 

Sieloff is also proposing more for infrastructure repairs, which will mostly be used for roads. The money is proposed to be used as a supplement to Chapter 90 funds. He wanted to increase that by $25,000, but ultimately settled with a $10,000 increase.

 

The big change for the Fire Department is a $5,000 stipend for the chief. Chief Charles Durfee said he put in more than 1,100 hours in the last year. He asked for a $15,000 salary but ultimately settled for $5,000.

 

"It's just gotten to the point where it is a part-time job," Durfee said.

 

Sieloff said some other stipends were cut so ultimately only $3,000 is added to the department budget. Overall, the town is proposing to spend $88,600 on the Fire Department, which Sieloff said is well below what his last job in Wellfleet was paying because of the volunteers. The department there is about the same size but is a paid department and not volunteer so it cost Wellfleet somewhere in the $1.5 million range, he said.

 

"The Fire Department is the best deal in town," Chairman Al Terranova said.

 

The Police Department is proposed to see the benefit of one less staff member. When Chief Timothy Sorrell was hired to replace Mark Bashara, the town didn't fill the position Sorell vacated. That also left gaps in shifts that needed to be covered, which requires additional part-timer staffing.

 

"A lot of places fill them with overtime. We fill them with part-timers," Sieloff said.

 

Sorrell added that 2 percent raises for the six full-time officers as well as increased sick and vacation time also dug into the savings from the lose of a position. Sorrell had asked to level fund his staffing line but Sieloff bargained for a $20,000 reduction.

 

"He was being conservative. He was keeping the number the same," the town manager said. "I think $20,000 is a compromise."

 

The Finance Committee will next attend the presentation of the Mount Greylock Regional School budget. In Sieloff's proposed budget, the school is penned to see a $14,000 decrease but the School Committee's early projections show only a $4,000 decrease. 

 

"By the time I put out my budget, I generally don't have the school budgets so I have to put a guesstimate down," Sieloff said.