Norton Captial Improvements Top $1 Million for FY 2014

The Norton Board of Selectmen discussed the fiscal year 2014 capital budget on Thursday, which topped out at $1 million.

The original requests from all departments totaled about $1.9 million, but Town Manager Michael Yunits said it had to be cut down.

“It’s just not possible,” he said.

Yunits said a good portion of the money was coming from the Water and Sewer department for the proposed water treatment plant designs of wells four five and six, which was $400,000.

Capital projects funded by the capital committee budget were $436,021, with an extra $120,000 in funds from borrowing.

Projects in the budget for the town of Norton included yearly payments on a brush/mini pumper to replace engine four, a Chevy 3500 dump truck with a plow, a six-wheel plow and sander, a street sweeper and a front-end loader.

Yunits added they are also buying a police cruiser and a police supervisor cruiser.

The budget also included a service vehicle for the schools, which would be able to help plow during winter storms, like in February.

“I would recommend we always purchase four-wheel drive pickups,” said Selectman Robert Salvo said. “We could have vehicles that help plow our roads with proper equipment.”

Kimball agreed, saying that buying two-wheeled trucks would be a waste of funds.

“We don’t need toy trucks, we need trucks that can move snow.”