Saugus Town Manager Scott Crabtree has navigated the town through rough municipal financial waters for almost nine years. But we won’t be surprised if Town Meeting members fire tough questions at Crabtree during the Dec. 6 Special Town Meeting devoted to town finances.
A town spending area sure to capture their attention is debt financing on town projects. The amount the town pays to borrow money for projects ranging from new windows for town buildings to constructing new schools averaged $3 million annually between 2012 to 2018.
That annual principal and interest debt load has almost tripled in the last three years and the reason is obvious to anyone who drives around town: Saugus embarked on a massive school reconstruction project, the centerpiece of which is the state-of-the-art middle-high school complex.
The Item quoted Crabtree in a Wednesday report saying, “We are in a really good financial position, where we can stabilize on a short-term basis.” No pun intended, but Crabtree’s track record as a financial manager suggests town residents can take those words to the bank.
Working with town finance department managers, he has kept an eye on the best options for managing the town’s short-term debt with a view to balancing long-term debt against prospects for balancing the town budget with state aid and federal assistance.
Even though it is no surprise the town’s debt load is increasing against the backdrop of the school projects, Dec. 6 offers Town Meeting members a focused opportunity to ask Crabtree, as well as the Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee, specific questions on how the debt load contrasts with town financial projections midway through the current fiscal year (fiscal year 2022 began on July 1 and ends June 30, 2022).
Crabtree boldly staked his financial reputation on the school construction projects and, in Tuesday’s story, he asserted, “. . . we are in a good, solid financial position.” The Dec. 6 meeting gives him an opportunity to expand on that statement.
