Millville cuts funding for church plowing, cemeteries

Town administrator Callahan says more cuts coming

MILLVILLE – The town’s decades-old practice of plowing snow from the parking lots of local churches and providing financial assistance to maintain private cem- eteries has ended. Those are the latest town departmental budget cuts and reductions that went into effect July 1 as town officials continue to work to close a $300,000 remaining deficit and balance the budget. In May, annual town meeting town voters overwhelmingly passed a town operating budget contingent on the passage of a $1 million Proposition 2½ operational override at a special election June 19, but the override failed. That means the town must now implement significant cuts in service in order to balance this year’s budget. So far, the town has ended municipal trash collection; closed the Senior Center and laid off all its employees; shut off 64 percent of the town’s street lights; cut all stipends; eliminated vacant positions; and reduced town hall department hours. As for the Millville Free Public Library, the town says it will be zeroing out annual funding for all library personnel. As of today, the town has not made any cuts or reductions to police or fire personnel, but they are not ruling that out. “Although the first round of cuts held essential personnel harmless, going forward everything must be on the budget table for further scrutiny to close the remaining deficit,” said Town Administrator Jennifer M. Callahan. Callahan said the town will continue to update residents if and when more reductions are made. The override was being sought by the selectmen, Finance Committee and administration as part of a strategic financial plan to raise the tax rate to address ongoing operational deficits and balance the budget. The town is facing a massive $310,284 structural deficit due to continued use of one-time revenues to fund increases to the school budget. The Finance Committee had proposed two town operating budgets

at the annual town meeting on May 14 – an override-contingent budget of $6,3343,733 and a $6,183,222 budget with no override – depending on the outcome of the override vote. The selectmen and Finance Com- mittee repeatedly warned that the town could no longer balance the budget by using one-time “rainy day” revenues, which is why they advocated for the override. The tax override, they say, would have right-sized the budget and provided increases in the tax rate phased in over eight years to balance future budgets. But a majority of the voters who went to the polls on June 19 rejected the measure by a vote of 589 to 339. The override would have permanently added $1 million to the town’s tax levy, which would have resulted in a total tax increase of approximately $1,415 over a period of eight years for the average $250,000 single-family household. With the $6,183,222 budget with no override now in play, officials must make further cuts in the budget to close the deficit. To do that, the town – in addition to eliminating trash service, closing the Senior Center and turning off some streetlights – may also have to lay off essential personnel, including police officers, firefighters and town hall staff. Callahan says while the cuts and elimination of services have been painful, the town has a fiduciary responsibility to balance the budget. “The town’s annual fiscal budget beginning July 1 did not appropriate funding for municipal trash collection as well as other important public services,” Callahan said.