GRANBY — Before night two of the 2024 Granby Town Meeting on June 10 inside East Meadow Elementary School where voters were able to pass the remaining nine articles, a Special Town Meeting was opened prior to square away the capital budget for the Fire Department.
The first article of the Special Town Meeting was a vote to transfer from the snow and ice department personal services budget $54,454 and the snow and ice department expense budget $60,000 for a total of $114,454 for the purpose of funding $100,636 for the Fire Department Personal Services budget, $4,816 for the Fire Department Expense budget and $9,002 for the Fire Department Capital budget for fiscal year 2024.
Selectboard member Glenn Sexton explained the article was to fund the Fire Department for FY24 being over budget.
Granby Fire Chief Michael O’Neill was present to explain the need for the two Special Town Meeting articles.
“I want to emphasize that the request for additional funding for the town has not been taken lightly whatsoever, especially when I know the town has a multitude of financial obligations to address at this time,” O’Neill said. “We have gone back to research budgets from [FY15] to date and have seen a trend of fluctuating budgets during times of chief transitions. This has resulted in fluctuating budgets that has increased or decreased annually without any apparent or justifiable reason other than new chiefs having lack of transition or understanding the budget shortfalls from the past administration.”
O’Neill said every year for the last seven years the department has had to come to Special Town Meeting for overages in its budget.
Sexton explained in regard to the fire chief there has been communication about its current financial situation with the Selectboard.
“We have training and adequate staffing to protect the people in Granby and I think that’s important,” Sexton said.
The second article of the Special Town Meeting will transfer $95,750 from Retained Earnings for the purpose of funding the Ambulance Department for FY24.
Town Administrator Chris Martin said to be more proactive in deficit situations across town for the future, the town administrator position will be expected to present a monthly report to the board regarding deficits and projections for them.
“This is so that during the course of the year, the Selectboard and myself can work with a department head if need be to address any potential short falls in the budget,” Martin said.
The continuation of regular Town Meeting started with article 24 passing which was a $550,652 proposal to operate the municipal solid waste department. This article will fund the curbside collection program in town as well as the cost of taking recyclables to the Springfield Materials Recycling Facility and taking waste to the McNamara transfer station located in Springfield.
Another item of note passing was article 25 which was approved and will fund $278,322 to operate the sewer department. Article 27 was also approved and funds another town department in the ambulance department, which will receive $568,919 to operate.
Article 26 approved $75,000 from free cash to fund the purchase and installation of a generator at the Pleasant Street pump station. This will fund the installation of a generator so that in the event of a power outage, the unit will still ensure continued operation of the pumps in handling the waste material and avoid a potential backup and overflow at the site.
In relation to the tax levy, article’s 29, 30 and 31 were passed and will use $220,400 from the Capital Equipment Needs Stabilization Fund, $892,394.70 from free cash, and $11,470 from bond premiums in order to offset the $2,734,538 in capital items and projects listed on the warrant.
This does not include the additional $2,284,655 in expenditures on the warrant, including stabilization fund transfers, revolving fund transfers and payments to school districts.
A recording of the Special Town Meeting and night two of Town Meeting can be viewed on the Granby Community Access & Media YouTube channel. The full warrant can be found at granby-ma.gov.
