Selectman Talk Cuts To Fourth of July Celebrations, Personnel

This year’s Fourth of July celebrations may be affected by the cuts needed for the town to fit itself into a default budget.

The selectmen had a preliminary discussion last night about  the possible cuts they would need to make after voters turned down their $11,095,396 proposed budget. The default budget for the next fiscal year is $10,853,361, which leaves $242,035 that needs to be reduced.

Selectman Dwight Brew said that cuts to the Fourth of July celebrations should be on the table.

Selectman George Infanti agreed that the cost of the holiday event need to be looked at, saying that the “frills” have to go in the default budget.

“We are going to make some serious cuts now that people are going to be very unhappy about,” said Infanti. “My big concern is we are going backwards and we cannot provide the services to the town that the citizens are used to.”

Chair Bruce Bowler estimated that the yearly Fourth of July parade and celebrations cost about $12-15,000, including pay for the emergency services at the festivities.

Selectman Tom Grella suggested finding a candidate for office that would be willing to pay the fee to join the parade, which would help offset costs.

Selectman Brad Galinson said that the board should avoid cutting any funding to infrastructure, which he said is normally done for default budgets. He said that work needs to be done on our roads and buildings in order to prevent future costs.

Voters had approved , which members of the board saw as a message that they should continue supporting infrastructure.

Galinson said that all employees need to be looked at, and layoffs could be on the table. He added that there could also be cuts to health and human services in order to fit the default budget.

Board members agreed that they would need to look at town positions and see which ones could be combined, reduced or eliminated.

These preliminary talks included looking at fire department personnel and student resource officers. Suggestions included only having one SRO take care of multiple schools, or having them work both in the schools and on patrol.

The Board of Selectman have until June to make their final decisions on the default budget. Bowler said that it is too early to tell what cuts can actually be made and that the town department heads would need to be closely involved in the process.

“We need to take our time and make sure we do this right and cut the stuff we need to cut,” said Bowler.