WHATELY — The proposed budget in Whately is up 1 percent from this year, with a 17.8 percent increase planned in general government expenses.
The $5.4 million includes increases in most categories, with the notable exception of a 5.1 decrease in public safety costs. Town Administrator Mark A. Pruhenski said the Whately Finance Committee, which approved this budget Tuesday, will meet next Tuesday to make recommendations to the Select Board regarding articles for the annual town warrant.
The general government portion of the budget for the year that begins July 1 includes three items with suggested increases of more than 100 percent, but Pruhenski said the specific dollar amounts are not as daunting as they may first appear.
The 650 percent increase under “website update” represents a jump from $200 to $1,500. Pruhenski explained that Whately is using a company called Virtual Towns & Schools, which specializes in municipal websites, to revamp the town website. He said the plan is to launch a new one within a few months. He explained there are serious space concerns with the current site, which he said is not as user-friendly as he would like.
A 213.3 percent rise for the Finance Committee covers registration fees for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Pruhenski said. The cost is going from $150 to $470.
And there is a 130.7 percent increase ($26,083 to $62,040) in the cost of town building operations. The town offices recently moved from 218 Chestnut Plain Road to 4 Sandy Lane, which once housed the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System.
“Since we continue to own and use the Center School and the Historic Town Hall, this year’s budget request includes those expenses as well as the expenses related to our new 13,000-square-foot facility,” Pruhenski said. “That budget is up just over $35,000.”
He said Whately purchased the building for $810,000, with roughly $10,000 paid back to the town at closing for upgrading the HVAC software program.
The 5.1 percent drop in public safety expenses is attributed mostly to a 22.8 percent decrease in ambulance costs. Pruhenski said this results from a reduction in the South County EMS assessment, which is $25,000 under this year’s expense.
Combined education expenses in the proposed budget total $2,628,037, broken down into $1,599,454 for Whately Elementary School, $909,447 for the town’s Frontier Regional School assessment and $119,136 for the Franklin County Technical School. The combined figure is down $14,307 because no Whately student plans to attend Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton.
There is also a 7.6 percent increase in insurance and benefits, most notably in estimated unemployment insurance expenses.