Selectmen Move $300K From Stabilization Fund To Stevens Estate

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — The North Andover Board of Selectmen voted Monday to transfer $300,000 from the town's stabilization fund to the Stevens Estate Enterprise Fund Budget.

The transfer was required for the town to get its tax rate certified without either raising the tax rate or calling a special town meeting, officials said.

The state Department of Revenue said that the town's rate could not be certified due to the Estate's budget running a deficit. The Estate has collected just 14 percent of its projected budget, while it has spent 22 percent of its expenditures, according to a memo from Town Manager Melissa Rodrigues.

State officials gave the town three options to balance the budget: call a special town meeting to either use the Estate's savings or reduce its budget; raise the average tax bill by about $30; or transfer the needed funds from stabilization.

Rodrigues advised the selectmen that the town does not have time for a special town meeting.

Usually, the town would also need a town meeting to make the transfer from stabilization, but the selectmen are allowed to authorize it with a two-thirds vote under special coronavirus rules.

If the selectmen had not approved the change, the $30 increase to the tax bill would have happened automatically, Rodrigues said.

The board voted unanimously in favor of the move, although multiple selectmen criticized the town's relationship with the Stevens Estate necessitating the move.

Selectwoman Rosemary Smedile said she was "not particularly enamored of" the transfer, though she saw it as necessary.

"We can't let this relationship continue as it is," Selectman Phil DeCologero said. "We're not being asked to dip into our rainy day fund to help our schools ... We're being asked to dip into our rainy day fund to help a wedding venue."

Rodrigues said that as much as possible will be transferred back to the stabilization fund from the Estate's savings and allocated capital at the spring town meeting. That will likely leave the Estate with no savings and require budget cuts in future years, she said.

Rodrigues's memo to the board is available here. The full meeting video is here, courtesy of North Andover CAM.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.