Rutland 2 1/2 Override To Cost $500 per Household

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sandy Meindersma, GoLocalWorcester Reporter

While a race is definitely on with four candidates for two seats on Rutland's Board of Selectmen, the town’s future is more closely tied to the outcome of the ballot questions.

$1.45 Million Override

Despite failures in all previous attempts to increase the levy limit, voters will be asked to decide whether or not they would like to increase the town’s budget by $1.45 million to a total of $17.15 million. The $1.45 million is in addition to the 2 ½ percent increase permitted by law.

$1.1 million of the override will be used to pay the increase in the town’s share of the Wachusett Regional School District Budget. Rutland’s total piece of the school’s $80 million is roughly $9.2 million. The remaining funds will be used to hire a town administrator, staff the Fire Department 24/7, hire an additional full time police officer and restore two positions to the DPW.

Selectman Michael Pantos, who is seeking re-election, said he was personally opposed to the override, but he wanted to let the voters have their say. “I do not want to increase taxes beyond 2 ½ percent unless the townspeople say to.”

Joseph Becker, chairman of the board of selectman and also a candidate for re-election said that if the override fails “every town service will be affected.”

Becker said that the total budget for the library and the senior center is approximately $225,000, which means that the core town services of Police, Fire and Public Works will have to be reduced, even if the library and senior center were shuttered.

Becker said he thought the library would not be shuttered completely, but rather the burden will be shared by all town departments. The Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee are meeting tonight to build a budget that the town will use in the event that the override fails.

Debt Exclusion

Also on the ballot is a $2.2 million debt exclusion for a renovation/expansion project at the Bay Path Regional Vocational School District. The debt will cost approximately $220,000 per year for 20 years.

Board of Selectman’s Race

All four candidates for the Board of Selectmen have said the town’s financial condition and the demands of the Wachusett Regional School District are their biggest concerns.

“We’ve made some headway in the last couple of years,” Becker said. “But we may be forced to take a step backward this year.”

Becker, who has served on the board for five years, was previously a member of the finance committee, said that his knowledge and understanding of the town’s history make him a good candidate.

Pantos pulled no punches when voicing his concerns about the Wachusett school spending.

“Bay Path has limited its increases to less than 3 percent for each of the last nine years,” Pantos said. “At the same time, Wachusett’s requests have grown by three times that amount.

Charging the Wachusett Regional School District with poor management, Pantos pointed out that Superintendent Thomas Pandiscio’s technology initiative was poorly thought out, and that his revenue sharing proposal contained several inaccuracies.

Joseph Dell’Aquila, who ran unsuccessfully for selectman last year, said taxes were his biggest hot button.

“That and the lack of choices for voters,” he said. “I’ve seen various attempts at debt exclusions, and things get lumped in together. There are other ways to structure the increases that would have been more palatable to the voters.

“The school department dug its own hole,” Dell’Aquila said. “They used stimulus money to expand their budget, instead of using it to retire debt or for capital projects. Now that the stimulus money is gone, they are trying to foist that budget onto the taxpayers. That’s poor fiscal planning.”

Robert Halverson, a political newcomer, said the override request was his biggest concern.

“If it passes, my taxes are going up $800,” he said. “I can’t afford it, and a lot of families in town can’t afford it.

Halverson also took his shot at the Wachusett budget.

“Why are we giving raises to the teachers? Those of us in the private sector aren’t getting raises.”