HARWICH — Increasing costs and the town's ability to fund spending requests was a major focus Monday night as selectmen put the finishing touches on article recommendations and the FY19 operating budget. Board of Selectmen Chairman Michael MacAskill pointed out that over the past nine years the budget has increased from $44 million to $65 million. The board's budget message issued last fall called for no more ...

HARWICH — Voters in town meeting in May will be asked to adjust the way they set the salary for the town clerk. The town has been making adjustments to its classification and compensation plan for department heads over the past three years under an agreement with the Service Employees International Union. A similar non-union classification system is being proposed for the clerk position. Whether this will l...

HARWICH — Officials are taking more low-key approaches to collecting back taxes, including arranging payment plans for delinquent taxpayers, than the more aggressive auction of tax liens to private investors that had been considered. The tax lien auction was seen by Treasurer/Tax Collector Amy Bullock as a way to reduce the $5.7 million in liens sitting on the books and quickly infuse money into town coffers. ...

HARWICH — Given recent debt exclusion votes, town officials are having difficulty keeping the annual budget in check. It won't get any easier as the town faces the need to fund wastewater infrastructure under the town's comprehensive wastewater management plan. With a 7.2 percent increase in the budget, projected at $65.4 million, selectmen expressed concern about the overall increase that could be presented t...

CHATHAM –Police Chief Mark Pawlina went before the board of selectmen last Wednesday to stress the need to improve security at local schools by installing bullet-proof doors and locks on classrooms and a full-time school resource officer. Pawlina had no specific spending proposal; indeed, school facilities are under the purview of the Monomoy Regional School Committee, not selectmen, so the board had no authority...

CHATHAM — The ghost of the controversial fire station project hovered over selectmen and finance committee chair Stephen Daniel last week as they discussed a new senior center. “The sense of the finance committee is that we've seen this movie before,” he said Feb. 20, recalling the escalating construction costs of the station. “A $2 million to $4 million project 18 months ago is now $8 million to $10 million...

HARWICH — While town meeting will have the final say on a couple of the requirements, town officials are ticking off the boxes that will allow Harwich to receive grants and incentives under the state Green Communities initiative. Town Planner Charleen Greenhalgh said that, when she worked for the town of Truro, the town met the five criteria to qualify as a Green Community and qualified for a grant of $125,0...

CHATHAM – If the town continues to sock away $150,000 a year toward its post-employment benefit (OPEB) liability, it will take more than 110 years to meet its full obligation of more than $16 million. Selectmen are eyeing a somewhat shorter timeline; they want to full fund the OPEB trust in 10 to 15 years, less if possible. To meet that goal, the board last week instructed staff to prepare town meeting arti...

HARWICH — Town Administrator Christopher Clark has proposed a balanced omnibus budget of $65.4 million for fiscal 2019, which has some modest service increases but otherwise holds the line on spending. The lean budget is one part of a larger plan to help the town boost its bond rating, which could save taxpayers millions when it comes to building a sewer system. Clark’s plan includes a $23.8 million operatin...

ORLEANS — Mike Nelligan of Powers and Sullivan, the town's new auditors, told selectmen last week that “everything went according to plan” for the fiscal year that ended June 30. “The numbers for the year were pretty much within budget,” he said Jan. 24. “You were about 2½ percent over on the revenue side, and expenses were about that number under. There were good controls.” During the audit, the firm “be...

CHATHAM — Saying they need more money to promote the town as a destination, the chamber of commerce is seeking a $15,000 hike to its town budget appropriation next year, representing a 20 percent increase over the current year’s payment. On Monday, selectmen said they appreciate the chamber’s work to promote the town and could support some kind of budget increase, but they stopped short of approving the appr...

CHATHAM — Thanks to a strong property tax base, a recovering economy and the town manager’s tight purse strings, selectmen Tuesday heard some good news about the draft FY19 town budget. Town Manager Jill Goldsmith is proposing an operating budget of $30,427,418, an increase of 0.57% over the current year’s spending plan. The draft budget not only stays within the constraints of Proposition 2½, but leaves alm...

HARWICH — The finance committee has approved recommendations by its subcommittee studying stipends for elected town officials, include increasing the stipend for selectmen from $1,500 to $2,400 annually. The final decision will rest with voters in the annual town meeting this spring, finance committee member Dana DeCosta, chairman of the subcommittee, said this week. It would be the first increase in the stipe...

ORLEANS — Another way to apportion the cost of the planned town sewer system is gaining ground. The current phased approach would burden those in the early stages with more of the cost for the treatment plant and disposal site that will eventually be used by all sewer customers. Putting the plant and disposal costs on the tax rate, rather than paying for those facilities in part with individual betterments, cou...

ORLEANS — In planning their budgets for the fiscal year that begins next July 1, department heads can propose up to a 4 percent expenditure increase over the current year. Selectmen set the standard, which applies to town and school budgets, last week. “Last year, I told the board we were at a crossroads,” Town Administrator John Kelly told selectmen Nov. 1. The standard 2.5 percent annual increase was becom...

CHATHAM – A proposed capital improvement plan for the Chatham Municipal Airport calls for more than $7 million in expenditures through 2025, with almost all of the funding coming from the state and federal governments. Among the big-ticket items in the plan are the reconstruction of the airport's parallel taxiway, a new airport administration building, and an update of the airport's master plan. Most of the...