Town leaders hope Belmont residents will pass $11.4 million budget

BELMONT — After the town budget failed to pass last year, the passing of this year’s budget has increased importance, represented in all 36 articles on the town warrant. Residents will vote from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11, at Belmont High School.

The 2024 budget of $10.67 million failed with 323 votes in favor and 400 against, causing the budget allocation to default to what the town spent in 2023, $10.28 million. This year’s proposed budget is $11.4 million. The default budget increases in line with the increases of contracts each year, raising the current default budget to $10.82 million. Town Administrator Alicia Jipson said if the town wants to grow and stay competitive with its surrounding municipalities as a place to work, the proposed operating budget must pass.

“When your wages are two or three years behind, you're not able to give wage raises, or bring on new staff, because that wage is not there to support it,” Jipson said. “We have inflation that we have to deal with as well. Our contracts go up, our health insurance rates go up. Our insurance for the town goes up. And if you're stuck only being able to use a budget that was two years old, where are you going to take the other money from?”

When the town must operate within a default budget, compromises must be made. Selectboard Chair Ruth Mooney praised department heads in navigating through the default budget to keep the town running properly.

“They all did their part. There was nobody that slouched this year. They all went above and beyond to make sure that our town was kept in good shape, even though we were cut,” Mooney said.

Like the budget, an amendment to increase police department union wages also failed last year, on a 394-348 vote. Wage increases for the department of public works and fire department passed. With six open positions, Police Chief Stephen Akerstrom said filling them is made even harder with lower wages. He said his staff compared wages at other local departments, and realized Belmont officers and dispatchers make about $7 an hour less on average.

“It's hard to hire police officers, in general, and when you can go to an area police department, and make $7 or more an hour financially, it's a huge decision for someone to make,” Akerstrom said. “We’re kind of stuck between a rock and hard place.”

The strain of the open positions is felt throughout the department. Officers often do more than is required of them. Akerstrom said it even affects his role as chief, having to spend mornings doing prosecution, as the department is still looking for a prosecutor.

“Everybody's kind of taken on other roles to keep things going,” he said.

The failing of the two town warrant articles in 2024 still puzzles Jipson.

“I can't assume why the voters voted the way they did,” she said. “Maybe they're feeling the economic pressures. I don't know.”

There are also some contested races on the town ballot this year.

A three-year term on the selectboard, a one-year budget committee term and a three-year treasurer term will be decided by voters on Tuesday. Incumbent Jonathan Pike faces Thomas Murphy and Doug Trottier for one seat on the selectboard. Voters can choose between Susan Roache and Alicia Segalini, the incumbent, for treasurer. Two seats on the budget committee will go to the top two vote-getters between Rachel French, a current member of the committee, and Brian Gardiner and Susan Roache.

Mooney said while she has preferences of her own, she encourages voters to show up to vote and select the candidates who would best represent them.

“We all go in the booth to vote who we choose, and I'm going to basically do the same thing,” she said.

Jipson said with 4,000 registered voters, the town will be lucky to have 1,000 of them vote. To help inform voters on the articles and races, the town put together a voter’s guide. Jipson encourages residents to look at the guide, which can be found at Town Hall and belmontnh.org, and in the annual report.

“They can bring it right to right to voting with them, and mark it up, and be the most educated voter that they can be,” she said. “That's all we ask.”