LYNNFIELD — Town Administrator Rob Dolan presented a $63.4 million Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) budget to the Select Board that includes an overall increase of 3 percent; an increase in the school budget to meet post-COVID needs; no use of free cash, and a major investment in capital needs with a 48 percent increase over the previous year.
The proposed budget allots capital spending of $2.17 million, including $550,000 towards paving/sidewalks; $100,000 to pay for drain improvements; $225,000 for three, F550 dump trucks; $25,000 for Pillings Pond algae treatment; $47,500 for a new police cruiser — a Ford Utility Explorer; $95,000 for fire station dormitory areas, and $250,000 for school technology.
“I really am proud of this budget,” Dolan told the board on Wednesday. “I’m proud of the fact that we’ve managed collectively through very difficult times; we have planned for those times and we’ve made reductions that we have to make.”
Some parts of the proposed budget that Dolan highlighted include recommending $150,000 to the stabilization fund and $50,000 to the capital facilities maintenance fund.
The budget also projects a tax revenue increase under the levy of $1.58 million; a $125,000 projected increase in local receipts; and a 10.12 percent projected increase in state aid, with a $581,946 increase from Fiscal Year 2022.
“Now, we are able to slowly rebuild along with investing in our stabilization and a substantial investment with capital outside of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act),” Dolan said.
Expenditures in the spending year running from July 1 to June 30, 2023 also include a projected increase of 3.3 percent for the School Department; an increase of 21.7 percent in the rubbish contract; a 4 percent increase in health insurance, and an increased pension cost of 9.4 percent.
After the presentation of the budget, the public was given an opportunity to speak.
One resident was concerned about the increase in pension cost and what that meant, which Dolan said is a cost determined by a regional system.
According to Dolan, the state looks at the number of people in each town in the pension system and puts that into a formula to determine Lynnfield’s share of the state’s goal for the pension fund.
“The managers that are there now… are a very professional operation that are not only recovering from the sins of past decisions, but have a very strong management team,” Dolan said.
Resident Patricia Campbell said she speaks every year at these town budget presentations because public participation is important. “In order to maintain our democracy, we must participate,” she said.
Some of her concerns focused on the schools with Campbell questioning where the additional money for the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) program — which enrolls Boston students of color in predominantly white schools to create better education opportunities — comes from.
“The METCO program is not fully subsidized by the state,” Dolan said. “So when a community enters the METCO program, there is a responsibility to deliver equal services, including if children have special-education requirements, of that of any Lynnfield resident.”
Campbell also pointed out that money for school maintenance and buses comes out of the Department of Public Works budget, not the schools.
She said with the rising price of gasoline, parents need to decide if their students are taking the bus all year or getting rides to school.
“Please do something about it,” she said. “We need a commitment from parents and to let them know what the consequences are.”
Now that the FY23 budget has been presented to the Select Board, Finance Committee and the public, the Finance Committee is set to make its final recommendation to the town next week.
