Terenzini finds budgeting error in June’s Proposition 2 1/2 override
Temporary Town Administrator Carter Terenzini discovered an error in how the town assumed it could spread out last spring’s Proposition 2 1/2 override, resulting in a last minute scramble Thursday to fix it during Saturday’s Town Meeting.
Back in June, the town approved a $3.2 million operational override and an $800,000 capital stabilization override. The original plan was to not add the stabilization portion until Fiscal Year 2022, while the operational funds were included in the FY 2021 contingency budget passed by June’s Town Meeting.
That cannot be done, Terenzini told the Select Board and Finance Committee during a joint meeting.
“We can handle it at Saturday’s meeting, we can call a special Town Meeting — which I do not advise under the circumstances — or we can ask for legislation,” Terenzini said. “But it has to be done in the first year.”
What’s the difference? The two line items in the override can legally be passed together, but the stabilization funds need to be handled immediately.
After convoluted discussions about the law, the boards agreed to, on Town Meeting floor, add a request for $600,000 to be added in the warrant article for the FY 2021 budget.
Town Meeting — already canceled twice, once to take it outdoors due to COVID-19 concerns, once again after 7 inches of snow coated the Grafton High School football field — will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at GHS. The forecast calls for sun, with highs in the 70s.
Earlier in the meeting, with members of the School Committee also in attendance, Terenzini laid out his initial revenue projections for FY 2022. He plans to have an initial budget in place by December 1, in time to hand over to whoever is ultimately hired as town administrator.
Overall, Terenzini has a conservative estimate of $67,529,944, with $43,164,134 from personal property and real estate taxes and $550,000 in new growth. COVID-19 will affect some revenues.
While one cannabis business is expected to open in town next year, Terenzini said the growth in marijuana establishments over the past few years gives Grafton’s first legal pot shop competition from the start.
“Truthfully, I’d have to see the business plan. I have no idea what to estimate,” Terenzini said. “I think we’re too early to estimate the affect it will have.”
“That’s… actually quite refreshing, really,” Select Board member Mathew Often said. Often, as a member of the Finance Committee, had been critical of former Town Administrator Tim McInerney’s inclusion of marijuana revenue is his budget projections.
Superintendent of Schools Jay Cummings said thinking about FY 22 is a struggle, given current challenges from the pandemic.
“We’re not even sure what we are going to look like in January, never mind FY22,” he said, alluding to a recent rise in Covid cases in both the town and the state.
