Rocky start on tap for Saugus meeting

SAUGUS-The special Town Meeting will likely get off to a bumpy start tonight since the Finance Committee has already tabled six articles.The 10-article warrant includes seven financial articles along with an article regarding voter registration at the high school, the naming of public buildings and an inclusionary zoning bylaw.With the election just passed, meeting members must also re-elect Town Moderator Robert Long or name a new meeting member to the position at the start of tonight’s meeting.Long said meeting member Peter Manoogian would likely give a report from the Sidewalk Committee as well. Long said he knew the special meeting would go more than one night, but the question remains if it will wrap up in only two.At issue are several financial articles, not the least of which is a request to transfer $330,000 from the medical trust account to the School Department to fund the teachers contract.The contract, ratified in September, gives teachers a 2.75 increase each year for the next five years with an additional 1 percent raise on the last day of the fifth year.Town Manager Andrew Bisignani, Long and other town officials attest the contract was settled largely on the premise that it would be funded with the surplus the town would enjoy by switching employees to the state’s Group Insurance Commission.But Bisignani said the Finance Committee Wednesday declined to support the article until it received solid numbers on what the surplus might be. The fly in the ointment is that Bisignani said he wouldn’t know for sure what the surplus is until sometime in February. The contract went into effect in September.”It’s extremely difficult to predict what the surplus will be, but we do know there will be relief because the state plan costs less than what we were paying,” Bisignani said.Bisignani called the committee’s decision frustrating since the article comes as no surprise.”It’s been discussed with the Board of Selectmen, Fin Com, in the public (GIC) forums,” he said. “It’s been no secret.”Bisignani said there are valid concerns regarding shortfalls in other departments as well and funding those is also under discussion.The Finance Committee also stopped short at backing a request to transfer $47,000 from rubbish disposal to the Police Department to purchase a cruiser.Police Chief James McKay requested funds to purchase cruisers during the last annual Town Meeting and was turned down.Long said based on what he has seen awaiting repairs behind the Department of Public Works building, there is no question the department needs cruisers.”Someone should just shoot those and put them out of their misery,” he said.Article 5 concerns borrowing $452,000 to purchase the lease agreement on the town’s streetlights. Long said he wondered if it was the right place and time to bond the lights, but Bisignani said the rates were low and it would save the town money in the long run.The Finance Committee tabled that article as well.Article 6 and 7 are aimed at paying down the debt service on previously approved drainage projects and funding premium payments for retired teacher’s health insurance respectively.Since the Finance Committee declined to vote on either of those, it leaves only three non-financial articles for meeting members to deal with tonight.”Now looking at the ins and outs, this (special Town Meeting) could take awhile,” Long said.