SAUGUS — Several financial articles submitted by Town Manager Scott Crabtree will be voted on during Saugus’ special Town Meeting Monday.
Scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom, meeting items of particular interest include Article 2, which requests that Town Meeting members rescind their prior vote to transfer no more than $2,436,951 from the stabilization fund as as a funding source for FY21 charges and to appropriate an amount of no more than $1.5 million from free cash as a funding source for FY21, and Article 8, which asks the town to appropriate a sum of money for remodeling or repairing town-owned buildings.
“Part of this (meeting) is to clean up and do some housekeeping, as well as complete some budgetary adjustments prior to us setting the tax rate and prior to the selectmen having their tax classification hearing,” Crabtree said.
He stated that he considered Article 2 to be of particular importance as the town maneuvers its finances in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that using free cash instead of Saugus’ stabilization fund would help the town maintain its AA+ bond rating recently reaffirmed by bond rating company S&P Global.
Crabtree said representatives from S&P Global have expressed support for the plan.
“Without a doubt, I think all cities and towns have been hit by (COVID), and Saugus has been fortunate to be in such a good financial position going into this that we’ve been able to avoid any kind of changes in services we’re providing to residents,” he said. “We had a surveillance call with the bond rating company, and one of the things we presented to them was this (plan), and they thought that was a very strong financial decision.”
For Article 8, Crabtree said the funds would allow the town to improve safety features in its municipal buildings, including Saugus public schools.
“We’re working on upgrading some of the deficiencies with the HVAC systems and making it so that it’s safe and healthy for teachers, students, and anyone who visits our town and school buildings,” he said.
Other warrant items include an article aiming to purchase police cruisers for the Saugus Police Department, an article proposing a water rate increase, and an article seeking to accept roughly 60 streets as public roadways.
Around 35 percent of the town’s roadways are currently unaccepted, Crabtree said, adding that unaccepted roadways are ineligible for chapter 90 grant funding. Accepting those streets as public roadways would allow the town to conduct necessary maintenance work.
“We’ve spent the last few years trying to go through legal council, engineers, and surveyors to try to get the roads in a position where we can accept them for the purposes of chapter 90 (funding) through town meeting,” he said. “We’re looking for funding so we can do the entire area that’s in need of (upgrades).”
