By Alex Brooks
A Public Hearing was held on Monday November 1 on Petersburgh’s Preliminary Budget for 2022. A tax levy increase of 0.9% is proposed. This small, under the tax cap increase gives the impression that this might be a rollover budget with only incremental changes, but that is not the case. There are significant increases and significant decreases which more or less cancel each other out. Funding for capital spending is up while funding for secretarial help is down. There are significant raises for the Bookkeeper, the Highway Superintendent, and the Highway crew, while pay for some other Town positions remains the same. This increased cost is balanced by a few significant line items from previous years that have disappeared altogether, such as garbage expense and support for the Tri-Town Ambulance.
The biggest increase in capital spending is in the CHIPS budget, which has gone from $60,000 in 2021 to $300,000 in 2022, but that does not affect the tax levy — CHIPS expenditures are always adjusted to match expected state funding — so there is a highway line item of $300,000 in revenue that matches the expense line item for CHIPS.
The capital outlay for buildings which was $30,000 in 2021 is $129,400 for 2022. This figure includes $32,000 for the Library’s HVAC project, $20,000 for improvements to the PVMCC building, $10,000 for painting the highway garage, $17,400 to replace the windows on the east wall of the Town Hall, $40,000 for a new roof on the Town Hall and $10,000 for other repairs to the Town Hall. Several of these projects have not yet been fully scoped out and accurately estimated, but the Board wanted to make space in the budget for needed renovations as they are committed to making improvements in the buildings.
Because the Town has a lot of work to do on its buildings, Heinz Noeding proposed and the Board accepted that it may be a good idea to hire a “Buildings Manager” to scope out the projects and hire and supervise the contractors. Noeding’s idea was that hiring a person who is knowledgeable about construction and renovation, who could make sure that the work is done right and that the Town gets good value for its dollar, would be money well spent. The budget includes $22,500 for hiring a Buildings Manager.
The 2022 budget significantly lowers sums available for secretarial work. While formulating this year’s budget, the Board compared what the Town spends in many areas with similar neighboring towns (primarily Berlin and Grafton). They found that Petersburgh spends much more on secretarial work than neighboring towns, and they eliminated a significant portion of the budgets that funds that. The Supervisor’s Secretary line was reduced from 7,595 to $5,000. The Assistant Clerk line was reduced from $7,426 to $5,600, and the Town Secretary position, which was $12,000 this year, was eliminated entirely. The Town Clerk salary was level-funded, except that the pay for tax collection ($1,500), which is now handled by the Town Clerk, was incorporated into the salary of the Town Clerk. So the Town Clerk salary went from $17,201 to $18,701 and the Tax Collection line was zeroed out.
The Town’s secretarial budget has been rising steadily for about ten years or so, and to the extent that anybody articulated the reason for that, it was that there was a lot of paperwork associated with the PFOA crisis, and that in general town administration requires a lot more paperwork than it used to. When asked if the reduction in secretarial funding may impact the Town’s ability to keep up with its paperwork, Heinz Noeding said the world has experienced a great increase in office productivity over the last decade or two as software has become available that automates a lot of routine paperwork and he believes Petersburgh can get its paperwork done in less time using computer-based solutions. He said he has observed some labor-intensive, duplicative, paper-based practices being used in the town offices, and he believes there is a good deal of room to improve efficiency.
The biggest impact to the budget from increased salaries is in the Highway Department. The Town is in the process of conducting a wage negotiation with the union that represents the Highway workers. The Board was not able to say exactly what the new wages will be because the negotiation is not complete, but it is clear from the budget figures that highway worker wages will soon be significantly higher. Sums budgeted for personal services in the “general repairs” and “snow removal” lines are up about $37,500 from 2021 to 2022, an increase of over 31%. Employee benefits are of course also up by a corresponding amount. The Highway Superintendent’s salary is up $7,123 from $46,877 to $54,000, an increase of a little over 15%.
Board members said there is a shortage of truck drivers right now, so anyone with a CDL license is in demand, and truck driver pay has been increasing fast in the last six months. They said if the Town does not increase its pay for highway workers, it is likely to have highway workers constantly leaving to take better-paying jobs.
The Bookkeeper’s salary increased from $9,270 to $12,000 (29.5%) because Charles Guntner, who has served as the Town’s bookkeeper for many years, is stepping down, so the Town will have to be prepared to pay market rate to hire a new bookkeeper.
Funding for the Town Park has more than doubled, from $2,250 in 2021 to $4,600 in 2022, because mowing expenses are significantly higher and because several park improvements are planned. The Cemetery mowing line item is increased by $1,000. from $4,000 to $5,000, because hiring mowers is more expensive than it used to be. The Board also increased funding for the Seniors by $1,000, from $4,500 to $5,500, and added $3,500 for an audit of the Town’s finances, which has not been done for many years.
Assistance for the ambulance squad was increased from $16,500 to $17,500, but $35,000 which was included in the 2021 budget to pay for Petersburgh’s share of the cost of the Tri-Town ambulance service is zeroed out, as it does not look like Petersburgh will be participating in any shared ambulance service. Another line which has disappeared from this year’s budget is garbage. Last year’s budget had $80,000 for garbage expense and $40,000 for garbage revenue, and the 2022 budget has $720 of garbage expense and zero revenue.