“It Only Happened Once”

Do you know that Sudbury Taxpayers authorized $2,000,000/year in new spending without discussion?  If I have your attention, please continue reading.

On the last evening of Town Meeting (TM) 2013, Article 40 was presented to delay (and discuss) any budget line item if that line item should change by more than 25% or $250,000 as a last minute amendment.

The motivation for this article was the Million Dollar amendments/changes made the prior year in the TM2012 budget. These last minute changes in TM2012 seemed OK because, as pointed out by our Town Management, it was a No Override budget and had increased only 2.7% over the prior year budget. The TM2012 budget did not, however, account for the savings anticipated from shifting Town and Public School employees from a locally negotiated health insurance plan to the State offered GIC health plan.  The actual cost reduction resulting from this change was approximately $2,000,000 gross as we proceeded into FY13.  Note there were some payments and other mitigations for employees that reduced these “off budget” savings to approximately $1,300,000. But these mitigations were one time.  As we proceeded into TM2013 there could have been another $2,000,000 (est)  “free cash” to be discussed and saved or spent in the best interest of the public.  The additional spending from 2012 to 2013 may have been 2.7% but the total new spending increase was approximately 6.4%.

When the IRS, taxes you too much, it offers to refund the excess tax or spend it forward on future taxes.  Sudbury Taxpayers, however, were not made any such offer by the Town or by the Sudbury Public School Committee.  Did anyone consider discussing this new spending with the Taxpayers? Did anyone consider applying this employee benefits cost savings to our $80,000,000  OPEB (Other Post Employee Benefits) liability?   

Our cost center managers decided to spend this windfall savings as “free cash” within their own cost center operating budgets without public input.  

By the way, Article 40 in TM2013 met with disapproval from the Selectmen, FinCom and the small group of voters still present at 10:45PM. They argued the budget change from the GIC happened only one time and discussion was not necessary. Certainly the “savings” happened only once.  But we will be paying for the $2,000,000 in new spending every year of our taxpayer life in Sudbury.  Sudbury, we can do better.

Dan DePompei

Haynes Road