DALTON, Mass. — On Wednesday night, the finance committee began a review of the proposed Fiscal 2023 spending plan and agreed the pay increase was reasonable for many positions.
The city had commissioned a study on salaries for city employees with the goal of developing a salary classification system based on comparative analysis and best practices for recruitment and retention.
“It largely reflects the paid study,” said town manager Thomas Hutchson. “And I think you’ll find that there’s been a lot of wage increases this year because of the pay classification study. So those are the main changes in this budget.”
The departments reviewed on Wednesday included city planners, tax collectors, building departments, postal and commissions.
The town collector’s budget is projected to grow 5.88 percent, from $105,326 this year to $111,520. The increase is primarily in pay, which will increase from $92,061 to $98,255 at tax collectors and assistants a step further on July 1. Expenses are unchanged.
The city planner requested a budget of $52,644, up 3.79 percent from this year, with the only increase bringing the pay line to $50,544. The spending budget will not change.
The Department of Building also proposed an increase in its salary range of $41,112, to $40,214, a 2.23 percent change from the previous year. There is no request for an increase in expenses, leaving it at $6,730 and bringing the total budget to $47,842 for 2023.
The Traffic Commission’s budget request is the same as this year’s $1,500.
Dalton’s postal budget proposes a 9.85 percent increase in postal demand due to COVID-19, the closure of the Town Hall to the public, and continued high postage costs, bringing that total budget from $17,875 this year to $19,636. Will bring ,
“It’s not a huge increase, but it does allow for an expected increase in postage costs and the possibility that more mailings will be done rather than handing things out to people in person because of COVID,” Hutchison said.
The Department of Emergency Management requested a nominal stipend of 2 percent, from $6,000 to $6,120. This growth could double in the coming years.
“The emergency management director has indicated that, in the future, the stipend should probably increase because when he is gone, it may be difficult to find someone for the work he is doing,” Hutchison said. “He was, of course, very honest, and estimates that we spend 30 to 40 hours a month on emergency management work, which, if you turn that into an hourly salary, is very little in the feed. So he’s suggesting at some point doubling the stipend and I say that as a sign of things to come next year.”
The emergency management spending budget will also see a slight increase from $10,458 to $10,594, bringing the total budget to $16,714, an increase of 1.56 percent overall.
The Dalton Development and Industrial Commission is not requesting any changes to the budget from $1,300, but committee members question the fact that the commission did not spend a dime of its budget in fiscal 2022.
“If this budget is unused, it turns back into free cash. And if we eventually exhaust it, we won’t see it in next year’s budget, and it won’t show up in next year’s budget process.” Will,” said committee chairman William Droesen.
Town accountant Sandra Albano reported that the line item went unused over the past two years because former Town Administrator Ken Walto left in August 2020 and the commission was not holding meetings due to COVID-19.
“It had something to do with COVID, actually, because there were no meetings. So it has to do with meeting some of the expenses in this department,” she said. “So the same thing could happen, and Ken was also the head of that department.”
The committee also took up budgets for the forest warden, police department and communications, but there were questions about several line items, so those budgets were adjourned to the next meeting on 9 March.
