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SPENCER – The Spencer Board of Selectmen expressed concern over the feedback they are hearing about a proposed Proposition 2 ½ override during a recent meeting.
Members intend to discuss what to do next at a meeting on April 3 at 6 p.m.
The Proposition 2 ½ override, if a single question, would total $2,465,390.
If the question is broken down over three years, the amounts would be $796,000 in 2026; $840,575 in 2027; and $825,815 in 2028.
Selectman Tony Pepe said he has been “getting coffee shop talk,” and there is “earnest confusion,” among citizens regarding the override.
He asked if they should pare down the requests or how else they might clarify the format for the public.
Selectman Ralph Hicks noted there is a lot of misinformation being spread around town, including by Facebook, which he described as “one of the biggest threats to democracy.”
“The public should have facts in front of them, not something dreamt up by somebody,” he said. “I want them to know the truth and nothing but the truth.”
He said the public safety services—police, fire and Rescue Squad—included in the override question–are areas where “everybody is a potential customer.”
Hicks urged residents to call him or call Town Hall for answers to their questions.
“We need facts. We don’t need fantasy,” Hicks added.
Selectmen Gary Woodbury and Vice chair Jared Grigg said they needed to get as much feedback as possible and pore through it.
“Our job is not to lose what we have,” Woodbury said. “I am nervous about it.”
Pepe said he suggested adding items to the override question like $100,000 contributions each to OPEB (other post-employment benefits) and unfunded pension liabilities, knowing Spencer would not accept override questions every year, “like Cape Cod and the Berkshires…”
He wondered if there is time to “scale back,” (the override request), noting it would prolong the pain but said he understood where the residents are coming from.
Town Administrator Jeff Bridges said the deadline is April 8 to submit the question for the ballot.
Bridges noted the override presentation is “very busy…There is a lot in it and it is confusing with two options—one year or three years.”
He asked selectmen if residents have expressed any preference for which number of years, adding, “Most say no year with no funding in it.”
Pepe said he has been hearing repeatedly from the public about having a “menu option,” where the voters can pick and choose what they want funded.
He said there is just “general negativity,” about the override and no feedback about whether it should be spread out over three years or contained in one year.
Bridges said the menu option is a tool that could be used. He noted the current presentation has “eight moving parts over three years…I get the confusion and concern in the community.”
He added, “The presentation is tough. I look at the crowd and their eyes are glazed over. It is a lot of numbers.”
“People need to decide what kind of town they want to live in,” Hicks said.
He spoke about the need to fund the Spencer Rescue Squad contract and four firefighters when grant funding for them runs out. Hicks also noted the highway department is short-handed with 10 people instead of 17 and how the police department needs more officers as well.
“No one is going to ride in here on a white horse with stacks of cash to help give us the protection and services we need,” Hicks said.
He added Spencer’s Town Hall should be open at least four full days, preferably five, instead of closing at noon on Thursdays.
Selectmen also talked about delaying the override until the fall, which Bridges noted is an option but would result in “amassing a deeper hole.”
The administrator said he presented a balanced budget to the Finance Committee during the prior week by taking the lease payments for capital equipment out of the budget and using free cash to pay for those.
Bridges said he is not paying off the items, just making a payment and that means the money will have to come from somewhere during the following year.
The administrator said if the override is delayed a year and fails, selectmen must identify “what’s going away.”
When he brought up required school spending in the budget, Woodbury noted, “That budget is a battle that has to be continuously fought.”
He added, “It’s not going to get better. The town stepped up for the school. Hard times are falling on this side. It is not a partnership anymore.”
Bridges said that the issue is with what the state wants the town to pay for schools, not the school committee.
FinCom chair Mary Braney, who was attending the meeting, noted that a menu-style override could be construed as pitting one department against another. “We shouldn’t do that. We are all in this together,” she said.
Braney said she also does not want the public to think just because something does not pass, it means the needs go away.
“We are at the end of adjustments,” Braney said.
