The Finance Committee closed out their series of budget hearings on Thursday with insights from the public safety sector (police, fire, dispatch and inspections). Town Administrator Jamie Hellen closed the the session with an outline of how the Town can add to the School budget allocation approx. $800K to bring it to just above the average that the Town has provided, not counting all the other funds the School budget gets directly or indirectly.
He also provided the next steps for what the Town and School officials can do to address the systemic deficit that the school budget faces. Note the Town and School officials are the paid Town and School staff. The Town Council and School Committee members as non-paid volunteers are covered by the same restrictions in the event of an override vote that state law lays out for the paid employees.
The Finance Committee voted to approve the budget as proposed and discussed during the hearings. The Town Council will likely do the same at their May 24 & 25 hearings. During July/August, the additional funding can be added or shifted to the School budget to minimize the cuts the School District will need to make to bring their $3.3M request down to match the Town allocation of approx. $1.8M
Now while the attention may have been closing out on what to do with the school budget, the case for additional 4 police (first since increase in staff since 2000) was made in a compelling and convincing manner.
Police schedule issue slides (presentation to be put on the Town page, in meantime, here are photo captures) -> https://photos.app.goo.gl/aTNXkpBvjedWPKqU6
While this budget includes the additional 4 police officers, in the near future the case is already made for at least an additional 2, if not 4, to correct the scheduling impact.
On the Fire Dept side, they are adding an EMS captain and 1 fire fighter paramedic in a step toward adding a 3rd ambulance full time. This would allow for the 3rd ambulance to be staffed for the business hours five days a week. To fully staff the 3rd ambulance for all shifts would be an additional 8 (for a total of 10) which we currently can't afford.
Why do we need the 3rd ambulance? The call volume has been growing for years and exceeded 5,000 calls for the first time in 2022. 44% of the calls are medical and result in an ambulance transport of the patient to a hospital. The frequency of getting 2 calls at the same time has been increasing, the frequency of getting a 3rd call at the same time has also increased. Not a new issue but the time has come to take steps to address.
Jamie's slides with the plan for "next steps" for the School budget (presentation to be put on the Town page, in meantime, here are photo captures) -> https://photos.app.goo.gl/dMZ92X98eWdrABoS9
Franklin TV YouTube link -> https://www.youtube.com/live/cAvlHmmmccQ?feature=share
FY24 Town Administrator Budget Materials website -> https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget/webforms/fy-24-budget-materials
My notes can be found in one PDF -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ByHzZZz4KS0i985Vf4ncWVnJE8d3j7iu/view?usp=share_link
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| Finance Committee - last of 3 budget hearings - May 11, 2023 at 7 PM |
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