DIXFIELD — The Finance Committee unanimously voted to approve the Board of Selectmen’s budget proposal for the Public Works and Grounds department during a joint meeting Monday evening.
Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky explained to the Finance Committee that selectmen had three options for the grounds budget:
* Approve an $18,656 budget, where the Public Works department would remain in charge of maintaining the appearance of the town’s cemeteries.
* Approve a $35,356 budget, where the town would bid the cemetery maintenance work to a contractor, leaving the Public Works department available to do other projects.
* Approve a $23,850 budget, where the town would hire a seasonal worker who would specifically work on mowing the lawns of the cemetery, leaving the Public Works department available to do other projects.
“We decided to go with the third option,” Skibitsky said. “The thinking was that we’d hire the seasonal employee to mow the cemetery, which would free up Public Works to do work elsewhere, in places that have been neglected.”
Selectman Scott Belskis told the Finance Committee that if they went with the first option, “once you add in the amount of the Public Works wages, it’d put it way over the other options.”
“There’s almost $19,000 in wages for their time spent mowing lawns,” Belskis continued. “Once you add that to the other figure, you’d be over $37,000.”
Finance Committee member Aaron Perreault subsequently made a motion for the committee to accept the selectmen’s grounds budget of $23,850.
“It seems like a cheap way of getting things done,” Perreault said.
In other business, Finance Committee Chairman and Dixfield fire Chief Scott Dennett told the Board of Selectmen that he was able to slightly reduce the Fire Department budget to $88,000.
“I tried to squeeze some more money out, and I have a reduced bottom line now, if it makes life easier,” Dennett said. “It’s not much, but a few hundred bucks is a few hundred bucks.”
Among the areas that Dennett said he reduced was building repairs, telephone lines and electricity.
Selectman Norine Clarke made a motion for the Board of Selectmen to lower their Fire Department budget proposal to $88,000, to match the Finance Committee’s recommendation.
The board unanimously voted to do so.
The Finance Committee will meet at 6 p.m. May 22 at the Town Office for a brief discussion on the budget before the annual town meeting.
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