By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
10/23/08

(previous)
“The (department heads) clearly deserve a pay increase. I don’t think anyone is suggesting they don’t,” he said. “Our real concern is restraint. I’m not convinced we’ll be able to sustain (the raises) in FY 10, or even FY 09 if the state aid is cut.”
Town Meeting member Jeff Wilkinson agreed, saying he doesn’t want to “vote now for raises we’ll have to take back later.”
He said the town should exercise “fiscal responsibility and restraint” in “extreme economic times.”
Two weeks ago Selectmen called for a freeze on discretionary spending but now they say there is money available due to a bill that passed through the legislature.
The money for injured firefighter Tony Pickens’ medical care was set aside by Town Meeting in May. But that money can be borrowed through 2013, according to a bill signed by Gov. Deval Patrick just hours before the Special Town Meeting.
Pickens was severely injured while on duty last year. Town Meeting set aside $150,000 in May to pay for his medical bills.
The funding for department head raises will come from that set-aside. Two two full-time elected officials, town treasurer and town clerk, received the same two percent increase. School department raises were included in the spring Town Meeting.
The library union raises will also be paid from the Pickens fund. Library employees will see a two-percent increase, around $20,000 all together, due to a new three-year contract with the town.
Selectmen John Shields urged Town Meeting to fund the raises, saying that the union “has a right to come back at the town” if collective bargaining raises aren’t funded.
“I think our Administrator (Kevin Mearn) should be praised,” he said. “They negotiated these raises in good faith. It’s a very good deal for the town.”
The Warrant Committee, while originally recommending against funding the library raises, changed its opinion at the meeting after hearing from Town Council John Flynn that the libraries could lose accreditation if the budget can’t be maintained.
Gene Boylan, chairman of the library trustees, called the current library budget of $900,000 “just above the state minimum.”
Selectmen Chair Kathy Fagan, responding to criticism that town officials were presenting new information, said “we didn’t know there was a source to fund (these raises) until today (Monday, Oct. 20) when the governor signed the bill.”
Town Meeting also appropriated $103,000 to hire
two teachers to address MCAS issues at Pierce
and Tucker. The appropriation will come from the town’s free cash.
The School Committee’s request for a third teacher was opposed by the Warrant Committee.
Both schools have failed to achieve adequate yearly progress and face state mandates for improvement.
“We saw Tucker as a new issue,” said Hurley, adding that an $80,000 grant that the schools missed out on this year also factored into the committee’s decision to fund two teachers.
Hurley said the Warrant Committee chose not to support a third teacher due to concerns that two teachers hired in January to address MCAS were reshuffled into other positions.
Superintendent Mary Gormley said budget cuts made the reshuffling of teachers necessary. She called the two new positions “very, very important for the remainder of the school year.”
Town Meeting also accepted a gift of a 5.74-acre of land near Randolph Avenue behind Thomas nursery owned by the Animal Rescue League of Boston, with a provision that the land be used for open space.
There was also a vote to move $385,000 from school budget to the town’s general fund. A bill passed by the legislature in July gives the school department direct access to the reimbursements. The movement of funds was necessary to balance the FY 09 budget in order to set the tax rate in November, according to the Warrant Committee.