DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee voted to recommend a number of fiscal 2024 department and office budgets during its meeting on Wednesday night.

 

One of the smallest increases may be for the town moderator, a line item projected to increase 2.09 percent, or $9. That $9 will bring the moderator's pay to $439 with another $100 for training, travel and lodging and dues and memberships for a total budget of $539.

 

Chair William Drosehn questioned whether the raise is large enough based on to the amount of work the position has but the committee held off on any further raises because of the uncertainty of the town's budget at this point.

 

The Select Board's budget is projected to decrease by 4.29 percent bringing the total from $31,433 to $30,084, though the board's stipends will go up by 2 percent, at $5,129 for the chair and $4,080 for the members.

 

Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson noted that stipends are not on the town's wage step system.

 

An appraisal of the so-called Bardin property had been added to this line item in fiscal 2022 but went unused due to the uncertainty of how much it would cost. 

 

This fiscal year, the town was given an estimate and adjusted the budget accordingly, dropping the line item by $1,500 to $5,000. 

 

The town manager budget is projected to increase 6.54 percent, from $179,505 to $191,244.

 

This is in part for salaries, including a $4,513 for Hucheson at Step 10, Grade 13, and almost $1,800 for the executive assistant at Step 2, Grade 8. The classification and compensation plan was approved by town meeting last year. 

 

Hucheson also budgeted for an interdepartmental clerk position that he did not fill last year. He would like to bring back this eight-hour position because the executive assistant is taking on more responsibilities.

 

"She is now capable of assisting me in higher-level activities and it would be helpful if we had somebody who could then take over some of her more clerical duties so that she could spend more of her time on substantive work," he said. "So that's replacing the position that had been there before."

 

The post would be at Step 1, Grade 6 with an annual salary of $8,374.

 

The reserve fund budget will remain at $65,000. This amount is to cover unexpected expenses that cause department budgets to be short. 

 

"The reserve fund is set aside for unforeseen expenditures that occurred during the year … This fund is the only fund that the Finance Committee has control over so when people's budget runs short and it needs to be brought whole again, people come for reserve fund transfers to make that happen," Drosehn said.

 

The cost for the town report is projected to increase by 4.14 percent, bringing the budget from $6,650 to $6,925, largely for printing costs.

 

The legal counsel budget will remain at $60,000 but the recording secretary budget is projected to increase by 2.19 percent, bringing it to $9,906 from $9,693. 

 

This reflects a 2 percent wage increase per meeting (from $54.79 to $55.89), a 2 percent compensation for meetings more than 2.5 hours ($12.02 to $12.26). The secretary is also paid for limited office work at $16.63 an hour at Grade 1, Step 5. The recording secretary covers an estimated 155 hours of board and committee meetings, and budgeted for about 20 that are longer than 2.5 hours.