Templeton Pleased With Gov. Baker's Local Aid Proposal

Templeton Pleased With Gov. Baker's Local Aid Proposal

‘That’s more than I expected, and it’s definitely welcome.’ — Robert Markel, interim town administrator Tara Vocino Reporter TEMPLETON  The good news is that Templeton will get a 4.3 percent increase in local aid, but the bad news is it’ll be offset by costs from the Worcester County Regional Contributory Retirement System. While local aid will increase, the retirement payment is also going up. The town will pay about $663,582 in retirement costs this year and according to interim Town Administrator Robert Markel, the town paid about $453,000 last year. It would be a deficit of about $223,000, from one year to the next in the retirement account, but an announcement last week suggested good news to help made up for that deficiency. Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Friday at the annual municipal association conference that all 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts will receive a 4.3 percent increase in state aid, which will amount to about a $50,000 increase for Templeton. Markel said he drafted a 2 percent increase in the budget, and the extra money is more than what he expected. “That’s a very significant increase in state aid,” Markel said. “That’s more than I expected, and it’s definitely welcome.” Markel called the money general government aid for the town, and he said it’ll be used across the board to fund operations. The funds to make up for the increased retirement costs have already been appropriated in the budget, but that increase is not expected to hurt as bad with the increase in local aid. He added that the extra money usually tilts toward Chapter 70 education aid, which is seeing a lower increase of 1.6 percent. Statewide, Chapter 70 would increase by $72.1 million to $4.58 billion. “I’m happy with the additional state money for the town,” Markel said. Markel said while the retirement increase has an effect on all towns in Worcester County, the town would hurt more if it wasn’t for Baker’s good news. Full-time employees have to contribute to the retirement system by setting aside 9 percent of their income. However, employees with larger salaries usually contribute 11 percent. “During their career, they pay in, and when they retire, they pay you,” Markel said. However, he said this money isn’t finalized, and it is subject to the Legislature. However, it sounds promising. “The Legislature has to approve the governor’s recommendation,” he said. “If anything, they increase it. They usually don’t decrease it.” Baker will declare his budget to the Legislature any day now, and this request will be a part of his recommendations. The Legislature has until July to approve the budget. Markel predicated they’ll have it finished in May or June. Markel met with town department heads on Tuesday morning, where he also reported positive news. They went over the numbers seven months into the fiscal year, and their findings were normal. “There weren’t any wild increases in spending or unusual changes in revenue,” Markel said. “I don’t foresee any problems. It should be a normal year.” He said there will be a closed meeting with the accountant on Wednesday to make a decision whether or not audit information is accurate to start working on an audit for fiscal 2013.