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SPENCER – Town Administrator Jeff Bridges urged Selectmen on February 10 to “either settle or punt,” when it comes to deciding when, how and what they will ask residents to fund through a Proposition 2 ½ override.
For the past several months, representatives of town departments have been appearing before the board and outlining their needs and requests.
At the last meeting, Bridges presented a scenario for a single override request this year encompassing FY26, FY27 and FY28.
In total, the requests of approximately 600,000 each year, would fund the school contribution determined by the state, the Spencer Rescue Squad contract, two additional police officers, a highway position and pay three firefighters once grant funding runs out.
Selectman Tony Pepe developed another approach with three versions–a single ask, a two-year spread by individual requests and a third option encompassing the fire and police needs. He also put in $33,000 across three years to “attack the pension deficit,” and included funds for the roads.
Unlike the administrator, Pepe’s proposal did not include the contributions toward the schools, which would stay in the operating budget.
Bridges said including the required school contributions in the override frees up money in the operating budget that can be used for other things.
It is the one piece that if not funded, will mean “turn your lights off,” he said.
As Selectmen continued to talk about the importance of public input and whether to have votes on a list of individual items or bulk, the administrator warned them time is running out.
“I think you need to have a message,” Bridges said. “You haven’t settled on what you want to do and what you want to ask the public for…You need to have your hearts in it, gentlemen.”
Selectman Gary Woodbury said that if the request does not go before Town Meeting for a vote prior to being put on a ballot, he is “out.”
He also said the public must be aware of what it takes “to hold onto what we have.”
Vice chair Jared Grigg said it would be “counter intuitive,’’ to have voters hire more police and then shut down the library or another department.
“(At) public hearings, people will tell you what they are thinking,” Woodbury said.
Earlier, the administrator showed a financial summary of the town’s debt exclusions. He noted that final numbers for the school project over 30 years were forthcoming. Estimates were used for all but the current year where the actual of $1.5 million is shown.
Bridges said that he took the town-wide valuation average over 10 years (6.79%) and applied it to property values ($250,000 increases to $263,000) in the calculations.
The average home value is $390,000.
The tax rate would be $11.73 in FY2027 with an override.
The taxes on a $390,000 home would be $5,218.07.
Pepe said it would be a good idea to put a calculator on the website whereby residents can put in their property values and figure out their tax amounts.
Bridges noted that the board had been talking about an override for months and no matter how high or low they go, the town has an operating deficit.
“The clock is ticking,” he said.
Selectmen plan to meet again on Thursday, February 20 at 5 p.m. to discuss the issue again.
In an unrelated matter, Police Chief Mike Befford announced the promotion of Officer Joshua May to the rank of sergeant. A pinning ceremony was held.
Sgt. May joined the Spencer Police Department in 2018. Prior to that, he worked for the police department at Assumption University and as a dispatcher for the Leicester Police Department.
The police chief noted Sgt. May would be working the midnight/overnight shift.
He also thanked Sgt. Valerie A. Morin, who retired, for her years of service since 1998.
