South Hadley FY24 budget presented to public, public hearing next month

March 28, 2023 | Trent Levakis
tlevakis@thereminder.com

SOUTH HADLEY — The Selectboard’s March 21 meeting was the first opportunity for the fiscal year 2024 budget overview to be presented to the public.

The current projections for the town’s FY24 budget is $54.3 million, up $2.4 million, or 4.62%, in total compared to the FY23 approved budget. This is not an official number as Town Meeting is where the yearly budget is passed. There will also be a public hearing on the proposed budget scheduled on April 25.

The largest decrease among the general categories listed comes from miscellaneous budget items as it is seeing an 11.8% expected drop to under $1 million in total. Town Administrator Lisa Wong noted this was because debt has been down with the lack of borrowings the town has had to do.

Wong added the best practice for the town with debts going down was to focus on stabilization accounts. A stabilization account is a savings account for a municipality, with deposits made by votes of Town Meeting, and funds available to withdraw for future expenses.

“The net state aid is up but it was smaller than last year,” Wong said, noting the FY24 increase of $466,000 was just under half of that of FY23. “I did want to note that there are some indications that the economy’s slowing and our state delegation in general did specifically point out to me that there would be potential implications for future budgets.”

With that being said, Wong added creating multi-year projections is the next thing she can focus on once the town knows where they stand with the FY24 budget. With more clarity, Wong noted she would be able to better solidify some of the big projects on the town’s radar for the future.

The town’s revenues expected is a net increase of $466,000 in state aid, property taxes and debt exclusion adding $973,000, local receipts estimated over $100,000 and retained earnings projected at about a $300,000 increase in use.

The biggest increase categorically in the current state of the proposed budget was a 10.26% increase to wastewater, up $154,000 to $1.66 million in total. Wong explained the Selectboard will have to consider a new rate increase at an upcoming meeting regarding wastewater.

Retained earnings, typically used for capital, are being used to offset the operating budget in this instance. Wong noted that in FY25, there may not be any retained earnings to use for either operating or capital.

Other expenses of note listed through the presentation were a 6% increase on health insurance, costs increase in utilities, adding a working foreperson position in the Highway Department, more funding for van drivers for the Council on Aging, and a school department increase of $900,000.

Wong also shared FY24 capital planning requests as of the meeting to help show what is on the town’s radar for projects. One of the items of note were just over $200,000 for Ledges Golf Course made up Master Plan related projects, clubhouse insulation and equipment, paving, drainage and irrigation.

Other items of note include $55,000 for the Leaping Well Nature Trail, $135,000 for police vehicles, Parks and Recreation related projects receiving $550,000 for Buttery Brook, a 70% reimbursement with Parkland Acquisitions Renovations for Communities grant, and $250,000 for a wastewater management plan.

American Rescue Plan Act requests as of the meeting were also shared by Wong. South Hadley has received a total of $5.3 million in ARPA funding and the remaining balance must be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026. According to the numbers shared by Wong, $4.6 million of that total has been approved for various projects.

Some of these projects include $841,000 toward high school mold, $147,000 in public health, $40,000 through the housing production plan, $80,000 in community groups, $50,000 land of low value project, a $10,000 Mosier School statement of interest, $182,000 for the Judd Brook project, $605,000 in schools and earmarked projects for upcoming years like $2.2 million to complete for Judd Brook, and $293,000 for schools.

This leaves the town with $685,773 remaining in funding to consider other capital projects, community supports, public health and affordable housing.

After going through the presentation and some discussion amongst the board the next steps for the town will be having the Appropriations Committee review the Operating Budget and make recommendations and Capital Planning will review the Capital Budget and also make recommendations.

On April 25 there will be a Selectboard public hearing on the proposed FY24 budget where the public can engage in conversation and give feedback to the board and town on the proposed budget. The last step will be the Selectboard approving the Town Meeting warrant in April that will include budget articles.

Wong added public comment is available any time before the hearing as residents are welcomed to email comments to selectboard@southhadleyma.gov.

Share this: