SOUTH HADLEY — South Hadley may create a new dual finance director/town accountant position that will more rigorously analyze town finances for better budgeting and future planning.
The proposed change, announced at the Select Board’s June 2 meeting, came alongside a recommendation to replace the Appropriations Committee with a finance committee, which would play a significantly larger role in the town’s budgeting process.
“When I was a member of the Appropriations Committee, I thought we should have been converted to a finance committee then,” Select Board Chair Jeff Cyr said. “So I think this is a great direction.”
By altering the organization of financial staff, South Hadley would have a more consistent and detailed understand of its finances, Town Administrator Lisa Wong said. With the current town accountant set to retire in October, Wong would look to hire a new person to begin finance director duties.
“If the town accountant retired three years ago, I would have proposed this three years ago,” Wong said. “If we had this level of financial involvement and analysis over the years, could we have been in better financial position?”
Assistant Town Administrator Chuck Romboletti said that a finance committee holds the same authority as an Appropriations Committee. The groups review budget requests for all departments, outlines detailed appropriations for the fiscal year and gives recommendations for each budget article at Town Meeting.
However, a finance committee has far more influence on financial policy and decisions. Such a panel produces its own budget independent of the town administrator, focuses on long-term financial outcasts and creates budget guidelines for the fiscal year.
Similarly, a finance director/town accountant would continue with current duties while also overseeing all financial departments, work with the town administrator on long-term fiscal strategy, handle budget coordination and oversee the finance committee.
“I have a strong background in finance, but I’m not a finance director,” Wong said. “We would actually bring in a finance director that would have significantly more experience and expertise that I would, which would then continue to elevate the professional staff we have.”
Resident Ashley Crowley asked Wong to explain her role if the finance director takes on some of the town administrator duties. Wong said her position could be reduced or reconfigured to take on other roles, ultimately saving the town money. She is not really sure what will change, since the town currently doesn’t have a position designated to financial policy.
“It’s important if you’re going to have a finance committee, you need to have a finance director who’s going to be the point person to be doing all the work and working with a Select Board and doing that work all year long,” Select Board member Carol Constant said.
Select Board members in attendance last week backed the idea of creating a finance committee, but member Kevin Hennessey does not support a finance director. The position would cost an additional $20,000 in fiscal year 2027, but Wong confirmed in an email this is for a partial year. The job market puts the position at $30,000 over the current town accountant salary of $105,605.
“Right now, we’re trying to watch what we’re spending is, and we have [Division of Labor Services] reports and audits that we’re waiting to come in,” Hennessey said. “I think we wait until they come in and we make our moves after that.”
The DLS audit happening this summer will focus on consolidation of services between the town, schools and districts, Wong said. For best results, the auditing team needs to know South Hadley’s government structure before beginning.
“What I hear is he [Hennessey] heard loud and clear the town rejecting the override, and a position like that would increase in salary,” said resident Cathy Allen.
While the salary will increase, the position will save the town money in the long run, officials said. In a similar sense, hiring Facilities Director Scott Moore to oversee building and capital needs “saved the town his salary in one year,” Cyr said.
“I do think the aim is to save the town money operationally,” Wong said. “But to also have an elevated staff that can retain qualified personnel, make sure that critical duties are covered, and save us money in the long run by having good financial advisors and advice.”
