Bedford Town Council Trims Municipal Tax Increase to Zero

Bedford Town Councilors, this week, held one final budget workshop, which they used to make a few final decisions to help them reach their goal of a zero-percent increase on budget items within the town's control.

Councilors trimmed the total requested appropriation to $25,929,418, down from Town Manager Jessie Levine's original , but still up from last year's approved budget of $24,192,169.

The five-percent increase is due almost entirely to mandatory bond repayment and additional retirement and similar costs handed down by the state.

Levine's original budget proposal represented a 40-cent increase per $1,000 assessed valuation, or $145 on a $362,000 home (the median assessed valuation for a Bedford home). The 2012 tax rate was $4.34 per $1,000 assessed valuation.

The new proposal now represents a 30-cent increase, based on the aforementioned nonnegotiable costs, or a $109 bump for the average Bedford home owner.

At $4.64 per $1,000 assessed valuation, the owner of a $362,000 home will now pay $1,680 in municipal taxes.

To get to their goal of a zero-percent increase, the Council approved only three of four requested new positions. Though councilors agreed to support an additional full-time police officer, a part-time police administrative position and a full-planning department employee. The six-month projected cost for the three employees is roughly $100,000.

A full-time buildings supervisor for the Bedford Department of Public Works at a six-month cost of nearly $50,000 was nixed in favor of contracting out a part-time position to handle the requisite duties, which will likely include a comprehensive facilities study. Levine said she and town finance director Crystal Dionne have already been in contact with private firms in an attempt to fill the position at half the cost.

Dionne explained that most of the remaining cuts came from an anticipated $7,000 to be generated from a proposed increase in cemetery fees and in health care savings for positions that are currently unfilled. The latter is expected to shave nearly $25,000, though Dionne said the town sometimes sees up to $60,000 in surplus off health care savings from vacant positions.

The town will also use about to pay for upcoming high-cost department requests such as a a six-wheel dump truck for the DPW. Using the funds to make the purchases now will create tax savings down the road, said Levine.

The budget will now be handed to Bedford residents for two scheduled public hearings, on Jan. 9 and 23, prior to going to vote at Budgetary Town Meeting in March, which last year lasted only 11 minutes.

Council chairman Bill Dermody, disappointed with past turn out, is openly encouraging residents to attend and voice their opinions and concerns at all three meetings.

"I'd like to challenge residents to come out. We need to hear from them and hopefully we will," he said. "We want to see a measurable increase in the amount of people that come to the Bedford Budgetary Meeting."

The following chart breaks down the total requested appropriation for the 2013 municipal budget request:

Fund

Appropriations

% of Total

General Fund

$23,976,708

92.5%

Special Revenue Funds

48,000

0.2%

Proprietary Funds

    Sewer

939,029

3.6%

    Police Detail

510,183

2.0%

    Day Camp

103,325

0.4%

    BCTV

352,173

1.4%

       Total Proprietary Funds

1,904,710

7.3%

Total All Funds

$25,929,418

100.0%