Saugus board OKs partial SCTS budget; 80 percent for payroll

SAUGUS – Selectmen have voted unanimously to approve a partial budget for the Saugus Cable Television Station to cover payroll and overhead expenses for the remainder of the year.Eighty-one percent of the $56,693 budget has been earmarked for payroll with the remaining $10,564 for operating expenses.There is currently no connection between the SCTS budget and the recent unauthorized transfer of $50,000 from the town’s former station, Saugus Community Television.Vice Chairman Maureen Dever explained that every three months since 2012, Comcast has sent $93,000 to SCTV. The money is being held in an account controlled by town Treasurer Wendy Hatch and will be used to finance the SCTS budget.”She will be your point person,” Dever said to SCTS Executive Director Bryan Nadeau.On Friday, Selectman Stephen Castinetti emphasized that no one from the town ever hacked into the SCTV bank accounts.However, SCTV Treasurer Janice Jarosz remained unsure.”I don’t have a clue as to where the money is coming from,” she said. “I wish I knew.”Nadeau explained that the money will only be used for items that are absolutely essential.”This is what I need to keep the station running from now until the end of the year,” he said at Tuesday’s selectmen meeting.For example, he said he has been working on a video storage system that would be more efficient than using external hard drives. However, the cost would be about $3,000 and was not included in the budget.Selectman Debra Panetta raised a series of questions prior to the vote.”I’ve never seen a partial budget with no revenue,” she said. “This is a very spotted budget.”Attorney Ira Zaleznik, representing the town, advised the board to create a Town Meeting article to open a separate enterprise account for SCTS and allow the station to have signing power for its annual budgets.”This is part of the municipal finance process,” he said.Panetta was also concerned that having SCTS as a town entity, as opposed to a private entity, would put the selectmen in violation of state law.Zaleznik quickly quelled the possibility of a legal violation and assured the board that no law had been broken.”That’s a different section of the general law directed towards the operation of a cable system in the town in general,” he said. “That’s not dealing with the specific issue here.”Chairman Ellen Faiella thanked the board for calling an emergency meeting to release funds for SCTS payroll on Sept. 24. Faiella was unable to attend because she was on vacation at the time.”I want to thank you folks for stepping up and doing the right thing,” she said.