Burlington Town Meeting voted to appropriate funds made available from a federal COVID relief fund to amend the FY22 Operating Budget to bring it closer to where it would have been before the impacts of the pandemic.
Town Accountant and Assistant Town Administrator John Danizio told the town’s legislative body that the town is set to receive an $8,556,806 allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and had already received roughly half the funds. The American Rescue Plan Act authorizes money to cities and towns through the Coronavirus State & Local Fiscal Recovery Fund.
Danizio said the plan is to use $1.5 million of the funds to bring a variety of department budgets close to where they would otherwise have been if cuts were not made due to a lack of local receipts resulting from the economic slowdown seen during the height of the pandemic. The allocation of funds will be split up over the next three years. The warrant article before Town Meeting this week was for the initial $500,000.
“The purpose of Article 4 was to increase the budgets for a few departments to replace budget decreases that came from last September’s meeting when we cut $350,000 from the town and $350,000 from the School Department and $1.4 million from Accommodated Accounts,” he said. “This is to restore some of those cuts that we had listed.”
The breakdown of the various departments is as followed for FY22:
- Select Board – $65,000
- Accounting – $30,000
- Assessor – $30,000
- Building – $20,000
- Schools – $250,000
- Board of Health – $30,000
- Council on Aging – $25,000
- Youth & Family Services – $15,000
- Library – $25,000
- Parks & Recreation – $10,000
Danizio explained that most of the cuts pertained to departments not filling positions after retirements or new positions, cuts in programs that were not provided during the pandemic and funds for overtime, among other normal expenses.
“What this article does is add money back to the Operating Budget, it’s budget neutral to replace positions, hours or overtime that was cut from operating budgets last fall and to restore losses in revenue,” he said.
As for the rest of the funds, Danizio said they earmarked $500,000 for the project to add PFAS filters to the Mill Pond Water Treatment Plant. They also have set $1 million for any COVID-related expenses that could come up. The other $5.5 million, which can be allocated at a future date, could be used for water/sewer infrastructure improvements or other projects that present themselves as an immediate need.
“The benefit of this newest funding source is that it is more flexible with what you can use it for and it’s an extended spending period,” he said. “We are in no rush, we have time to be more thoughtful.”
There was some debate among Town Meeting members about other possible uses of the funds, including fully bringing the budget back to previous levels, using it to lower the residential tax rate and even keeping it in reserve in case local real estate prices fall. Danizio said many of those things have or are being considered but that the full amount of the ARPA cannot be used in one area under the structure of the act.
Town Meeting voted 70-27-6 to approve the article allocated the first $500,000 for the FY22 Operating Budget.
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