HOPKINTON

Voters OK $23.5 million budget

Hopkinton voters reject $3.5 million for road repair

By Vickie Goff/The Sun Staff

HOPKINTON – Taxpayers narrowly approved a $23.5-million budget in a low-turnout 135-118 referendum vote Tuesday. Voters rejected spending up to $3.5 million for road construction.

As of July 1, the tax rate will increase by 1.97 percent, from $14.19 per $1,000 assessed property valuation to $14.47 per $1,000. A resident with a house valued at $300,000 would see his or her tax bill jump $84, from $4,257 to $4,341.

Next fiscal year’s budget is up 2.5 percent, and includes an already approved $17.7-million Chariho Regional School District bill, which rose 2.4 percent from the current fiscal year. The $5.8 municipal spending plan increased by 2.7 percent.

Voters also approved 161-91 restricting $10,000 of unspent funds in the current fiscal year’s Department of Public Works budget for an emergency winter operations and snow removal account. They also supported 149-100 placing the remainder of the department’s unspent monies in the department’s restricted capital account.

But taxpayers rejected 116-137 spending up to $3.5 million on a road improvements bond.

Town Manager William A. DiLibero said this morning that the “most calls I get are from people who have problems with their roads.” Public works and GIS/IT officials have been working with an engineering firm to prioritize roadwork “but you can’t estimate a timeline for getting the work done unless you have the resources to do the work,” he said.

“What we would have addressed for three years in the road bond isn’t going to happen.”

DiLibero said funds included in the public work’s capital account could be used for improvements, but added that the town has “been budgeting very tightly so I don’t see a great deal of money being carried over from year to year.” He did not specify the total amount that would be available for the roads or a detailed plan, but said town officials would meet after the end of the current fiscal year to make those determinations.

Voters also denied 101-149 moving the unspent balance of the current GIS/IT budget into a restricted technology account. DiLibero estimated the funds to be less than $10,000.

“I think what we’re trying to do is create a process, and as a common practice in most towns, see what’s left in the budget and buy what we need,” he said, calling computer-related equipment “more long-range purchases.” “…So what we’re trying to do is keep that money available [so] we make purchases when we need them, instead of buying purchases to have the equipment in case we need it.

“It’s not that we’re buying equipment that we don’t need. It just gives us the ability to better target where the equipment is going.’’

DiLibero said unspent monies would be rolled into the budget’s general fund.

In next year’s spending plan, revenues are estimated at $8.4 million. Another $15 million is expected to be collected in taxes at an anticipated 97 percent collection rate. Real estate tax revenue is expected to climb by $8.5 million, although $1.3 million is expected to be exempt from commercial property taxes next fiscal year, due to the approval of the town’s Tax Stabilization Policy for Exit 1 business Hopkinton Industrial Park. The Town Council passed the policy in February, allowing for a five-year phase-in of taxes for new commercial and industrial facilities.

N.E. Ventures LLC, the holding company for the Exit 1 facility that will house light manufacturing company Renova Lighting Systems Inc., submitted an application for the policy last week.

Motor vehicle taxes are expected to rise by $2.3 million, though personal property taxes are anticipated to decrease by $500,000.

Health care for town employees decreased by about 8 percent because Hopkinton joined the Governmental Health Group of Rhode Island, according to Finance Director James Lathrop. Under the 14-member health-care consortium group -- expected to have 12 new entities next fiscal year, including Charlestown and Richmond -- members self-insure health plans, but have protection for high-cost claims with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Rhode Island, which acts as a claims administrator.

The Police Department’s detective position is not being replaced when Kevin McDonald retires this fall. The town budgeted $25,917 for his salary until he retires, down from his $60,102-annual salary in the current fiscal year.

The town also earmarked $100,000 of its $3.6-million surplus to offset taxes, and another $9,000 from the fund balance to implement the OneCall Now, a telephone notification system that the town would use to alert residents about emergencies. The funds would cover the first four years of the system.

vgoff@thewesterlysun.com

RICHMOND

21.8 million Richmond budget passes unchanged

Financial Town Meeting draws crowds and disagreement

By Paul Pence /The Sun Staff

RICHMOND - Richmond residents passed the fiscal year 2008/09 budget unchanged at Tuesday’s Financial town meeting, committing to $21.8 million in town spending.

The budget passed on a unanimous voice vote of 145 residents, but only after several failed amendment attempts. The budget is up $613,477, 2.9 percent above the current spending plan. The budget exceeds the state-mandated 5 percent cap on the tax levy. The state auditor general had approved the increase and residents OK’d exceeding the cap.

Residents are now facing a tax rate increase of 17 cents from the current $14.11 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation to $14.28. The average homeowner with a house valued at $300,000 will see an annual tax increase of about $50.

The most contentious of the failed amendments called for removing the restriction on $15,000 allocated to the Richmond Senior Citizen’s Association.

We are the only organization in town that has their budget restricted by half,” said Stephanie Rivera.

Town Council President B. Joe Reddish III explained that there are restricted items in the police, public works and tax assessor departments.

“The recreation budget, because it is a town organization, is by definition, restricted,” Reddish said.

The restriction on the line item requires that the association use the $15,000 directly on programs.

“Just send the bills to us and we pay it, that’s it. The restriction is an accountability factor. We have 7,300 residents accountable to,” Reddish said.

“A number of people expressed concern about how the budget was handled for the senior center,” said council Vice President Erick A. Davis.

Davis said that the restriction was the budget committee’s way to accommodate all of the opinions that were voiced, restricting half of the $30,000 the town contributes to the association rather than lowering the amount.

“Programs seem to be the hot word tonight,” said Mary Benway, association chairman. “A few people said tonight that this forces the seniors to be accountable for delivering programs.”

In addition to the implication that the association is not accountable, Benway was concerned that the money could be withheld over a disagreement on a whim of the council.

“We don’t seem to be able to come to terms with what is a program,” she said.

The attempt to remove the restriction failed by a 2-to-1 margin.

Another attempt to change the budget also failed, when Dan Davidson proposed cutting a total of $233,594 from the budget. This included cutting the entire $49,702 budget for the recreation department, the entire $30,000 allocation for the senior citizen’s association, the smaller philanthropy contributions in the community services section of the budget, and $25,000 from legal services. He also proposed cutting $10,000 from the contingency account, $100,983 from the fund to capital, and $8459 from emergency management.

The proposed change failed overwhelmingly.

A motion to move $395,510 from the undesignated surplus to reduce the tax increase from 8.14 percent to 5 percent also failed overwhelmingly after brief discussion.

“By paying for that out of undesignated surplus, you need to find a corresponding savings or you will be hit by that much next time around,” said councilor Kevin R. Gosper.

The residents earlier approved a transfer of $462,896 from the Motor Vehicle Registration Phase-Out Account, part of the planned budget, a little less than half of the money available in that account.

“We will about liquidate the motor vehicle phase-out account next year,” said councilor Henry R. Oppenheimer.