DeVellis Doesn't Budge on Tax Talk

FOXBOROUGH, MA — Selectman Jim DeVellis is standing firm on his desire to see the town not increase the tax levy to the maximum allowed by state law.

During an update on the proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget at Tuesday's selectmen meeting, DeVellis continued to advocate for the smaller increase and called on the town to take a look at their budgets.

"The population hasn’t changed, our spending keeps going up. The 7 years I’ve been doing this...I don’t see the staff getting smaller, I don’t see the salaries getting smaller. I’m seeing them go up," DeVellis said.

By law, communities can increase the tax levy by 2 1/2 percent each year. A higher increase requires an override vote from residents. DeVellis has proposed raising the level by 1 1/4, which would mean a $500,000 difference from a 2 1/2 percent hike.

"I don’t think it’s a far stretch to say we’re a smart group, we can lose $500,000," DeVellis said. "The knee-jerk reaction is we’re going to have layoffs. I don’t think we will. I think the people we have can figure out how to lose that without cutting off our nose to spite our face."

Finance Director Randy Scollins suggested that the board take part in the budgeting process and create a subcommittee to participate, something that DeVellis said he would prefer not to do.

"It's not my role to do that. I would rather say 'department heads, we’re looking at a policy to bring the ceiling down $500,000, can you do that?'" DeVellis said.

"I think that's the function of the subcommittee to do that," Selectmen Ginny Coppola said. "The only way you're going to find out is if you participate in the subcommittee or you’re going to have to trust the professionals that we’ve hired to do the budgets."

Town Manager Bill Keegan told the board that the town won't know what can be cut until they can go through the budget.

"I don’t know until I go through the process and identify what we can cut from the budget," Keegan said. "I want you to observe the process we go through and at the end of the day ask 'what do you think about this?'"

He added that economic growth is necessary to reduce taxes, noting that he did it as Dedham's town manager and they don't raise the levy by the maximum amount.

"I say this in every community I’ve worked in. If you want to get to the point where you’re reducing taxes, you have to continue to grow your economy and if you grow your economy, you’ll be very successful," Keegan said.

Selectman Chris Mitchell asked about the possibility of shifting the tax burden to commercial and industrial proprieties to give residents a break, but the board already voted on the shift for the next fiscal year and can't go back to it until next November.

The current town budget is about $62.2 million. Residents will have their say on the next budget at the Annual Town Meeting in the spring.

Image: file photo