The Board of Finance was expected to approve $205,000 in internal Highway Department transfers at its March 26 regular meeting. 

But Town Finance Director Robert Tait said beforehand that such transfers are routine, particularly when the funds come from other lines within the same department.

A transfer request memo between Mr Tait and Public Works Director Fred Hurley includes existing account shortfalls and anticipated needs, and identifies sufficient internal funds to cover the needs in the highway and the transfer station’s current budget.

According to the memo, the available funds for transfer include $50,000 in payroll surplus resulting from various disability cases; $155,000 in transfer station contractual surplus achieved through unit cost reductions and deferred implementation of the larger bin single-source recycling program; and $10,000 in surplus transfer station payroll, equaling the $205,000 needed for other purposes, Mr Hurley noted.

The identified highway and transfer station shortfalls include:

*Transfer station overtime in the amount of $10,000 is required to cover above average coverage requirements for Saturday from highway employees.

*Highway regular overtime requires $20,000 to cover the time period from April 16 through June 30, and covers on-call employees as well as any additional emergency situations, such as spring wind storms.

*Contractual services for tree removal requires $42,000 to cover problem trees identified by the tree warden that have been through the review process with bids received and are ready for immediate take-down.

*Contractual services in the amount of $73,000 for a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection-required professional engineering review and development of an emergency action plan for two town-owned dams. The project is required to be completed this spring, Mr Hurley noted.

In addition, a $40,000 transfer will cover the estimated need for additional emergency repair of winter potholes and other similar damage, and another $30,000 will offset winter maintenance additional overtime expenses.