Belmont voters reject budget at Town Meeting

BELMONT — Voters rejected warrant article No. 10 at Town Meeting, which would have raised and appropriated the town budget to $10.67 million, an increase of about $400,000 over last year.

Because the article was defeated on Tuesday, the town will revert to last year’s operating budget of $10.28 million. The budget committee recommended passage of the article but townspeople declined it on 400 votes against 323 in favor. 

Town Administrator Alicia Jipson said voters may have declined to pass the budget due to economic concerns.

“If I had to guess it was due to the state of the economy,” she said Thursday. “They themselves feel the financial pressures at home and felt this was one area they might be able to control.”

Jipson said reverting to the previous year’s budget could limit the town’s ability to conduct its business.

“Using last year’s budget will limit the town a great deal. It will force us to make necessary cuts and it will limit us on necessary purchases,” she explained. “Unfortunately with any reduction in a budget, cuts will need to be made, and none of us are looking forward to that as we have a very tight, slender budget with little to no excess.”

The new budget would have included wage increases for town employees, which Jipson cited as the most important line item to be increased. She said staff retention is a difficult issue facing Belmont, and wage increases are needed in order to achieve that goal.

“Belmont has been behind on wages for some time. In 2023, we lost employees to other municipalities and the state due to wages,” she said, adding that competition for employees is an issue that affects towns across the state and the country. “We had no other choice but to address wages in 2024. The town is a business who provides services and we can’t do that without employees.”

The failure of the budget article will put Belmont in the position to cut back on their budget from last year, which Jipson described as “slender” to begin with. 

“The next steps are to take a look at the default budget and see where cuts can and will need to be made accordingly to still keep the town running,” Jipson added. 

Despite the failure of the budget article, Jipson said the passage of two out of three union contracts should be cited as a success. New contracts for the fire department and public works department were passed. A new contract for the police department failed. 

“This will allow us to hopefully keep up with industry wage standards and retain the great workers we already have, as well as attract new employees to Belmont,” she said. “Belmont lost employees in 2023 due to the crazy employment market going on. It was our goal to address wages in '24, so that we would not lose any more valuable employees and attract new employees who want to call Belmont home.”

Appropriations for the Highway Reconstruction and Maintenance Capital Reserve Fund, established in 2006 and totaling $750,000, failed on the warrant on a vote of 367 to 354. The budget committee and selectboard supported the warrant article. 

Jipson said she was surprised regarding the failure of the highway article because Belmont has historically done well maintaining roads.

“I can only guess that it was voted no on due to the dollar amount. Belmont has always had successful passing of the Highway Reconstruction CRF, so it came as a shock,” she said. “This money is used to address all town roads in Belmont. We have a great road program and we address the roads in Belmont, we don’t neglect them.”

Jipson regrets the failure of that article, noting it will make performing necessary maintenance more difficult.

“With no money added to that CRF, road maintenance will be limited. I’ve been told by my DPW director that a plan to address Middle Route this year will not be able to move forward as planned,” she said. “It is a shame this article failed as Belmont’s roads overall are well maintained. You have to keep up with road maintenance or it becomes more costly in the end.”

But voters did select to fund the first installment payment on the lease of a new ambulance for the fire department, an agreement the town entered in 2023. With the passage of article No. 18, the town will raise and appropriate $105,000 to make the first payment. No monies will be raised through taxation as the sum will be withdrawn from the Fire/Ambulance Equipment and Apparatus Special Revenue Fund.

The budget committee and selectboard recommended the passage of article No. 18 and voters sent it through by a wide margin, 528 to 212. 

Jipson said getting expensive warrant articles passed through is always difficult and suspects voters may not always understand their importance. 

“The challenge is getting the voters to understand the importance of articles,” she said.

“Lots of time and thought have been put into delivering a budget that is responsible and a necessity, not a want.”

Voters should do more research into warrant articles in the future, talk to town personnel and be skeptical of posts on social media, she said. 

“I’d like them to do their homework before making decisions on voting day,” she said.

“Facebook doesn’t have the answers of those that work on this all year long do. The town puts out a voters guide that is neutral in nature that explains most of the articles, so that voters can make better-informed decisions.”