SOUTHAMPTON — Facing a $2.6 million deficit next year, officials are outlining three budget scenarios this spring: a full-service plan requiring an override, a smaller-override compromise, and a “catastrophic” plan with deep cuts.
Town officials agreed to take this approach at a joint budget hearing between the Select Board and the Finance Committee on March 17. The push for this tactic came from Select Board member Jon Lumbra, who said the town should be clear about what residents stand to lose if an override fails.
No decisions on how an override would be presented are final and the Select Board and Finance Committee will meet on Thursday, March 26 to discuss the options further.
The town is aiming for an approximately $24 million budget, a $2.6 million increase compared to the current year’s budget, mainly due to unanticipated health insurance premium increases.
“I want to see the starting point that has all the original requests [made by department heads] in there which includes the final votes for Hampshire Regional and the final vote for Norris,” Lumbra said about the budget. “That’s our starting point for how high we are.”
The first scenario would require residents to pass a $2.6 million Proposition 2½ override that would maintain level services for the town and schools, including providing Hampshire Regional High School with its approved budget and fully restore previous cuts made to Norris school. Following a failed override last year, Norris school lost five full-time employees and saw significant hourly reductions, totaling approximately $700,000 in cuts.
The second option is a budget that asks for a smaller override of approximately $1.7 million which would make a partial restoration to Norris school, maintain level services for the town and provide most but not all funding for Hampshire Regional.
Both budgets include $350,000 for capital expenses. Town officials noted that those funds are not part of level-service operations but are necessary for future building repairs, employee laptops, dump truck parts and many other expenses. Lumbra said with the current financial situation in mind, he does not feel this is the right year to include that.
Town officials expressed concern that residents may not be willing to vote in favor of a $2.6 million override. The hope for this approach is to give voters each option clearly — a higher override that maintains services or a smaller override that will lose certain services.
“What is a number that both meets our needs but also would be able to pass at the ballot box?” Town Administrator Scott Szczebak posed to the Select Board. “No one has a crystal ball on that.”
The “catastrophic” scenario of residents rejecting an override would lead to cuts to many departments, including position eliminations to the library, council on aging, health, highway, a full-time firefighter position which is currently vacant, police overtime hours and more.
Lumbra urged that when an override is presented, there should be two separate questions — one for the town’s operational expenses and one for the high school’s budget.
“I’m not in favor of dividing the override question for departments,” Lumbra said. “I do believe Hampshire Regional needs to stand on its own.”
Lumbra rationalized that the Select Board has a responsibility to the town. Therefore, he does not want to split an override for town departments, which includes the Norris school, to pit departments against each other.
As for the high school, he said there are five towns in the Hampshire Regional School District and they can only vote in favor or against the high school’s budget, but cannot change it.
Many residents and town officials spoke at last week’s meeting sharing similar sentiments to Lumbra, asking the town to not split an override among its departments.
“If we separate the override questions by department, it creates conflict between those departments and only affirms the belief that we can look at each one in isolation,” said resident and School Committee member Margaret Larson.
Several School Committee members and parents spoke in favor of funding Norris school and have been attending several recent town meetings to create awareness of how detrimental the previous cuts to the school have been to services. A recent grassroots movement has formed called “Choose Southampton,” working to encourage resident support for an override.
Jessica McConnell, co-chair of the Edwards Public Library board of trustees, spoke up for the library’s funding, which could lose several positions and materials if an override fails, saying it would be detrimental if it loses the children’s librarian.
“We need to maintain our children’s librarian, they are also our assistant director,” McConnell said. “Without that position if the director is not there, we have nobody that’s fully in charge.”
Southampton’s annual Town Meeting will be held on May 2 at the Norris school. The annual Town Election will be held on May 19 at the Senior Center. For more information visit the town’s website.