Finance Bd Recommends $2.85 Million

In CIP Reductions

By John Voket

Forecasting some of the toughest financial times ever, the Board of Finance this week unanimously recommended $2.85 million in cuts to planned capital projects spread out over the next five years.

While recommendations will bear out in the next fiscal year if ultimately approved by the Legislative Council, all the rest of the recommended cuts can be reinstituted in whole or in part if the future financial climate improves through the continuing capital improvement planning (CIP) process.

After determining that the manner and timeline in which the future high school renovation project plays out cannot be determined until an approved rebidding process is complete, the finance board decided to act in its role to propose specific cuts to achieve a 15 percent overall reduction to the CIP schedule.

Those cuts include the outright removal of $800,000 proposed for a police building redesign in the 2014 fiscal year; scaling back the proposed town recreation and senior center construction proposal by $1 million in 2010; halving the $700,000 proposed budget for interior renovations to the Parks & Recreation maintenance facility interior to $350,000 next year; cutting $200,000 from a half-million dollar park playscape replacement; and another half-million dollars from the Hawley School heating and air system improvement proposal in 2011.

“We just removed the bottom priorities each year going out, plus made a reduction in the proposal for Hawley School,” finance board member John Kortze explained following the meeting. “We did not rework the priorities. We culled the lowest priorities on the way the individual CIP priorities were presented by the selectmen and the BOE [Board of Education].”

At the same time, the finance board agreed on a scenario that will fast track bonding a middle school roof replacement in a corresponding gap resulting from delays in the high school rebidding process.

“We tried to establish a ‘Plan B.’ Both scenarios save money — if [the high school borrowing] gets pushed off,” Mr Kortze said.

He said if the high school rebidding comes in at or under budget the town will remain on the current schedule.

“The CIP we adopted will be in place except for the 15 percent reductions and the middle school roof replacement moving from fifth to the second year,” Mr Kortze said.

“If it comes back over $38.8, the time it will take to make changes to the process will open up opportunities to save the taxpayers money on other projects,” the finance chair added. “Depending on the delay, that HS borrowing may not happen for one to two years or more.”

Mr Kortze said he finds tremendous irony in the fact that to date, the Board of Education does not have a backup plan approved if the entire high school project is eventually forced into a complete redesign.

“But the Board of Finance does have a Plan B,” Mr Kortze added, “just in case.”