Select Board: McInerney needs to determine Grafton override scope by March 5

The Select Board is asking Town Administrator Tim McInerney to come up with a concrete number for the proposed override, which was unofficially given a figure of $6.5 million back in January.

The proposal included $3.8 million for the schools, with additional funds slated for new positions on the municipal side. The funding would be spread out over the next five years starting in Fiscal 2021.

“What I don’t want to do is get to Tri-Comm and have 30 people staring at each other,” Select Board member Ed Prisby said, referring to a joint meeting of the Select Board, School Committee and Finance Committee slated for March 5. “I think we’re beyond that.”

Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Meekins, filling in for the absent McInerney, agreed that alterations to the initial budget figures are needed, since the office did not have concrete figures on line items such as health insurance when it was first projected.

Town Moderator Ray Mead, a member of the Fire Department Study Committee, added a new wrinkle. While the proposed full-time fire chief is included in the FY2021 budget, its funding depends on the town winning a grant. The position would otherwise go to October Town Meeting for funding.

“I am not a fan of overrides,” Mead said. “Not at all. But it’s important that the committee’s plan go through and that, unfortunately, will require something I hate: an override.”

Mead estimated $480,000 would be needed to fund three full-time positions: the fire chief and two fire captains. Those three people will be restructuring the department, which is moving from an on-call (volunteer) system to one that combines employees with on-call.

And it also comes with a deadline: Fire Chief Mickey Gauthier is required to retire at age 65, and the committee would like to have him still on staff to train the new chief.

“These three people, if we hire them today, have an enormous amount to do,” Mead said. “You can’t do that with one person.”

The Select Board also spoke with state Rep. David Muradian, who was on hand to update the progress of the state budget. Muradian agreed that the funding Grafton received through the Education Opportunity Act was far less than what it needs and said he could discuss further ways of getting grants to benefit the town.

But first, the state budget needs to be passed. The House will get the budget on the second week in April, with two days to make amendments before passing a budget on to the Senate. The entire process needs to be complete before July 1, the first day of FY2021, but that doesn’t always happen.

“Hopefully we’re done in a timely manner this go-around,” Muradian said. “Last year, we were the last state in the country to come out with a budget.”