Grafton budget up 5 percent
By
Susan Spencer
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Feb 20, 2018 at 9:53 PM
Updated Feb 20, 2018 at 9:53 PM
GRAFTON – Town Administrator Timothy P. McInerney presented a $61.7
million proposed budget for fiscal 2019 to selectmen and members of the
Finance Committee Tuesday, which represents a 5.1 percent increase over
the current year.
Education – not including the assessment for Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School and insurance costs – makes up $35 million, or 56.7 percent, of the budget. That item is proposed to increase 5.25 percent, a growth factor reflecting passage of a Proposition 2½ override in 2014, which allotted $2 million to schools and $1.5 million to road maintenance annually.
Health insurance costs for employees are expected to increase $99,000, despite the town’s move out of the state Group Insurance Commission in the coming year to a single carrier, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
Retirement contributions are also driving costs, going up 9.9 percent, a $151,000 increase.
Mr. McInerney said town department heads have been asked to cut their requested budgets by 1 percent to balance the budget.
Nearly three-quarters, or 72 percent, of town revenue, comes from taxes and penalties on taxes. An additional 22 percent comes from state and federal aid.
Mr. McInerney pointed to several revenue initiatives outside of taxes and state and federal aid, including energy aggregation, textile recycling, Green Communities grant, marijuana host agreements, refinancing debt, sewer treatment facility solar and municipal center solar energy.
“The theme I hope people will get out of this is we’re trying to protect the taxpayer,” he said.
New growth, budgeted for $450,000 in fiscal 2019, was the highest it’s been in the last five years, Mr. McInerney said.
And with recent land sales, a sewer extension grant and partnerships
with Mass Development for parcels around Route 30, he said, the area is
on its way to becoming “biotech ground zero” in the next two years.
An unnamed 950,000-square-foot facility is in the works there, which could bring in an estimated $2.1 million in new growth, according to Mr. McInerney.
But he said the town needs to consider options if it expects operations to grow at a rate higher than allowed by Proposition 2½.
In other business, selectmen voted 3-0 to approve a liquor license for Reunion Tap & Table, a 152-seat restaurant and banquet room planned by Hanna Briggs Restaurant Group for 198 Worcester St.
Selectman Jennifer Thomas was absent. Selectman Sargon Hanna recused himself because he is the manager of the realty company that owns the property where the restaurant intends to operate.
The license proposal drew some opposition, including from the owner of a strip mall at 202 Worcester St. Opponents argued the board needed to consider the impact of the restaurant on traffic, pedestrian safety and noise.
Also at the meeting, selectmen agreed to vote March 6 on joining mass tort litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Education – not including the assessment for Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School and insurance costs – makes up $35 million, or 56.7 percent, of the budget. That item is proposed to increase 5.25 percent, a growth factor reflecting passage of a Proposition 2½ override in 2014, which allotted $2 million to schools and $1.5 million to road maintenance annually.
Health insurance costs for employees are expected to increase $99,000, despite the town’s move out of the state Group Insurance Commission in the coming year to a single carrier, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
Retirement contributions are also driving costs, going up 9.9 percent, a $151,000 increase.
Mr. McInerney said town department heads have been asked to cut their requested budgets by 1 percent to balance the budget.
Nearly three-quarters, or 72 percent, of town revenue, comes from taxes and penalties on taxes. An additional 22 percent comes from state and federal aid.
Mr. McInerney pointed to several revenue initiatives outside of taxes and state and federal aid, including energy aggregation, textile recycling, Green Communities grant, marijuana host agreements, refinancing debt, sewer treatment facility solar and municipal center solar energy.
“The theme I hope people will get out of this is we’re trying to protect the taxpayer,” he said.
New growth, budgeted for $450,000 in fiscal 2019, was the highest it’s been in the last five years, Mr. McInerney said.
An unnamed 950,000-square-foot facility is in the works there, which could bring in an estimated $2.1 million in new growth, according to Mr. McInerney.
But he said the town needs to consider options if it expects operations to grow at a rate higher than allowed by Proposition 2½.
In other business, selectmen voted 3-0 to approve a liquor license for Reunion Tap & Table, a 152-seat restaurant and banquet room planned by Hanna Briggs Restaurant Group for 198 Worcester St.
Selectman Jennifer Thomas was absent. Selectman Sargon Hanna recused himself because he is the manager of the realty company that owns the property where the restaurant intends to operate.
The license proposal drew some opposition, including from the owner of a strip mall at 202 Worcester St. Opponents argued the board needed to consider the impact of the restaurant on traffic, pedestrian safety and noise.
Also at the meeting, selectmen agreed to vote March 6 on joining mass tort litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
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