Wellesley Town Meeting Balances, Passes FY2013 Budget

Article 8 of Wellesley Town Meeting began last night’s session of Town Meeting, opening with discussion on the town-wide fiscal 14 budget. Officials have balanced the budget, using some money from the free cash supply to do so.

All told, the fiscal 2013 budget totals to about $136 million, which is an increase of about $4.5 million from last year’s budget packet. The budget ultimately passed, despite a handful of no votes.

The Board used about $2.8 million from free cash to balance the budget. As Precinct C Town Meeting Member Roy Switzler noted, the town has used free cash to balance the budget for three of the last four years.

Selectmen Chair Teri Tsigaris reports that the Board of Selectmen have “proactively adopted a reserve fund policy as part of annual process.“ The policy states that the reserve fund must remain between 8 and 12 percent of the operating budget.

There was no motion to increase taxes, but officials did say there is a possibility of an override in the cards for the 2014 Annual Town Meeting.

School department pieced together a series of plans, with a range of options depending on factors like enrollment, ranging from a 2.7 percent increase at the low end and a range between 4.2 and 4.7 percent increase, which officials believe to be a more reasonable estimate of the school system’s needs.

However, some Town Meeting Members disagreed. Said TMM Roy Switzler, “The schools have been over-budget for years. 3.5 percent is better than they have been.”

He added that if the school budgets were within guidelines, If they didn’t do that, the town could use free cash for other projects.

The general government saw an overall increase of about 5 percent. This includes an increase for the Selectmen’s projects of about $2 million and a pension plan increase of about $1.8 million, among changes at the Council on Aging and in other departments.

Department of Public Works budget went up by about 1.3 percent, from $6.4 million to $6.5 million. The budget request from the Library saw a 2.3 percent increase as well to a little over $2 million.

Town Meeting voted in favor of the omnibus budget, warrant article 8, on a voice vote with only a few no votes. Budget discussions began on the first night of Town Meeting, and were held at 11 p.m. Monday to be picked up on the Tuesday night session.