DALTON, Mass. — The assessor's budget proposed for fiscal 2023 will include $6,000 to implement a new geographic information system. 

 

Town Manager Tomas Hutcheson said the application has been placed in the assessor's budget because that will be its primary use but it can utilized to map a number of things.  The Historic Committee would be able to see the town's pattern of development through historic buildings, and septic tanks could be mapped to assess dangers from the river.

 

"The potential is vast and I will state enthusiastically as I need to to support the adoption of this new technology and have it be housed in the assessor's office," said Hutcheson. 

 

As the project develops there may be more expenses as the town imports more layers. He said Town Planner Grant McGregor knows a lot about the GIS system so will be working with the town on the implementation of this progress. 

 

Property owners' names will be removed from the property card to prevent bots from finding people's names but residents can reach out to the assessor's office for that public information. 

 

"With this system, anyone could zoom in on the town, click on a parcel and pull up the property card. That said again, in the town I just came from, for the online version, but the owner's name was stripped from the property card," Hutcheson said, "For privacy reasons. We figured that if somebody really wanted to know that they could give the assessor's office a call. We didn't want bots, finding people's names that way. So there are considerations like that for the future." 

 

Other GIS systems, including those in use in North Adams and Pittsfield, provide the names of property owners in their systems. 

 

The budget will also include the appointment of a third part-time assessor to documents are signed off in a timely manner. Laura L. Maffuccio, former assessor, will pick up the post for a short time.

 

The assessor's budget is up $12,970 from this year, or about 14 percent, bringing it to $105,208. 

 

This budget was one of about two dozen the Finance Committee plowed through on Wednesday. 

 

The committee approved a 78.95 percent increase, from $38,000 to $68,000, in the Information Technology Department that was previously called the "computer" budget. The increase is due to the security and backup improvements such as the new phone system and rewiring. 

 

After this increase, the budget will stabilize. A grant has been applied for to cover the cost of the fiber wiring that would connect Town Hall, Senior Center, highway garage, park, and cemetery building, and it will enhance the ability to back up data and keep it secure. 

 

The committee also discussed the potential to include Craneville Elementary School in this upgrade plan. Nessacus Regional Middle School and Wahconah Regional High School already have 12 fiber strands so do not need the upgrade. 

 

The IT Department is also looking into a more cost-effective backup system due to the large amount of data that is constantly being uploaded. 

 

"We've done quite a bit of work to go through and get that data off of the workstations onto a system that's being protected in various ways," said committee member Michael Lacker. "We upgraded the phone system which I was more involved in than I thought it was going to be and then it's just always a collection of data which I'd like to see if we can find a more cost-effective backup solution for some of the data."

 

The committee approved a 6.09 percent increase in in its own budget bringing its total for fiscal 2023 to $1,685 to accommodate the cost of the Zoom system and the Association of Town Finance Committees meetings.

 

The elections salary budget was nearly doubled to $24,010 to accommodate an increase in pay for checkers, tellers, wardens and assistant wardens.

 

The audit line item was up 100 percent to $20,000 to cover the bi-annual audit for fiscal 2021 and 2022. The department budgeted for the federal audit that is done when the town spends more than $75,000 of federal money that is likely to happen due to the $1.9 million federal COVID-19 grant that the town received. Hutcheson said that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the town and that this money will need to be spent by 2024 and reported by 2026. 

 

The Development and Industrial Committee had its budget zeroed out. The committee was described as a COVID-19 casualty because of its lack of meetings during the pandemic. The Dalton Redevelopment Authority is taking over this budget.

 

Group purchasing line was increased to $3,711, a more than 300 increase from this year's $800, to be part of the larger Franklin Regional Council of Goverments purchasing program. Hutcheson said there were a few out-of-region slots available and the town jumped at the chance to join. He said the cost savings in materials such as gravel, sand, salt, and asphalt should more than cover the increase. The town is still continuing with the Berkshire Regional Group Purchasing Program as well.  

 

The accountant budget requested a 6.09 percent increase to accommodate salary increases for a total of $93,900.

 

The committee tabled the life insurance and group health and dental budgets for the next meeting due to questions regarding line items and so adjustments can be made to the budget. 

 

The Board of Health budget requested a 40.2 percent increase to this year's budget of $59,543 budget, bringing it to $83,480 to accommodate contracted services that are needed until the new health agent, who is currently a registered nurse, has completed her training. 

 

These contractors are hired through the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. At the moment the new health agent is unable to do food, septic and other inspections.

 

The Council on Aging requested a 4.8 percent budget increase bringing its total budget to $64,549. A state grant is subsidizing eight hours of positions otherwise the request would have been higher.

 

Building maintenance is up 18.46 percent from this year's $80,184 to accommodate procurement training. Patrick Pettit, building superintendent, has completed two of the three required courses. It was also discussed that the Highway Department is next on the list to receive procurement training. 

 

The committee approved a decrease of 8.76 percent in the Veterans Services budget, bringing it down to $114,600. Town Accountant Sandra J. Albano noted the budget is still overfunded in case any veterans move to town. 

 

The town currently covers six to seven veterans at an estimated cost of $60,000. The budget accommodated an additional four veterans as a precaution. The state reimburses a majority of the expenditures but not until the following fiscal year.

 

The committee approved a 2.01 percent decrease in the Berkshire County Retirement budget bringing it down to $517,417. The regional retirement group is in the top 10 in the state for being funded at about 87 percent and, because of that, the budget is expected to continue to decrease. 

 

"It's supposed to be down because we're becoming paid up. I'm not sure if that's exactly this reason, but it's eventually going to go down," Albano said. "And when that happens, we could use that budget to let [Other Post Employment Benefits] go down even more.

 

Central supplies requested a $3,000, or 18.18 percent, increase bringing its total budget to $19,500 to accommodate the increase in paper costs. A major purchase of 24 cartons was made in preparation for the increase; the town goes through 60 cartons of paper a year.