By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — Town Administrator Rob Dolan presented the proposed fiscal year 2025 operating budget during the Select Board’s meeting on Monday.

Dolan said the proposed $69,882,770 operating budget for FY25 represents a 4 percent increase over FY24’s $65,737,091.18 spending plan.

“This has been a challenging budget process for FY25,” said Dolan.

While FY25 has been a challenging budget process, Dolan said the recommended spending plan is balanced.

“Local government is the only level of government where you must have a balanced budget that is not only reviewed internally by Town Meeting and the Select Board, but also by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and an independent auditing firm,” said Dolan. “This is not the federal or state government where you can play a shell game and you can add things.”

Dolan said the recommended spending plan for FY25 includes two permanent full-time firefighters. Fire Chief/Emergency Management Director Glenn Davis requested four permanent firefighters the past two fiscal years to work overnight shifts due to improve the Fire Department’s responses to calls at night.

“We are adding two full-time firefighters that Chief Davis has advocated for,” said Dolan. “He asked for four firefighters, and he got two. Is that enough? No it is not. Next year, we have a plan to add two more.”

Dolan has also proposed increasing funding for the Town Clerk’s Office budget to address increased costs associated with the VOTES Act’s early voting and vote-by-mail requirements for the state primary in September and the presidential election in November. As a result, he increased Town Clerk Amanda Haggstrom’s expense budget by $20,820, totaling $90,305.

“We are funding a lot of unfunded mandates in our Town Clerk’s Office,” said Dolan.

Dolan has budgeted a 3.9 percent increase for the School Department in the next fiscal year. He said $260,000 from Free Cash is going to be added to the proposed school budget to help finance the $375,000 cost of the Differentiated Learning Program (DLP) classrooms at Huckleberry Hill School and Lynnfield Middle School.

“We have always promoted a budget in which public education is at the forefront,” said Dolan. “This budget is no different. We have made a commitment to our public schools in a time of need and a time of crisis.”

While Dolan did not fully fund Police Chief Nick Secatore’s request for a full-time patrol officer, the two officials agreed to hire an additional officer at the halfway point of FY25 in order to save money.

Dolan is projecting property tax revenue will be increasing by $1,266,446 in FY25. He is estimating new growth will be $420,000 in the next fiscal year. He said the projected tax revenue increase under the Proposition 2 ½ levy limit is $1,686,446.

“Property taxes and new growth are the two main staples of our revenue,” said Dolan. “For property tax classification, Lynnfield is 82 percent residential. But with that comes a significant burden on homeowners to support local services. New growth is slightly different every year. We believe that the $420,000 in new growth post MarketStreet is what we can rely on every year. Lynnfield is basically grown out. The Sagamore development will generate some in the future, but the fact remains that after Sagamore, there is no real substantial new growth opportunities in the town. We have to rely on property taxes and moderate new growth.”

Dolan noted that a major challenge in FY25 will be a significant decline in state aid, which he is projecting to increase by only $75,352. He recalled that the Healey-Driscoll administration was forced to cut $375 million from the current FY24 state budget due to declining tax collections.

“The state budget has affected localities, including Lynnfield,” said Dolan. “The difference between last year’s state aid and this year’s state aid is $75,352. That does not support one additional staff member. When you look at fixed costs such as raises and health insurance, as well as the needs of our schools and the Fire Department, it becomes very difficult to meet those needs without substantial and steady state aid. The issue of state aid in the future is a questionable one because the state has failed to meet its benchmarks for revenue over the last several months.”

Dolan is projecting that the town’s health insurance provider, the Group Insurance Commission (GIC), will be increasing by 7 percent in FY25, equaling an additional $528,248.

“The GIC has reaped tremendous benefits for the town,” said Dolan. “The average increase over the last 10 years has been 3.9 percent. There was a substantial adjustment this year, in which the increase was 9.5 percent. We stored some money in our health insurance reserves in case something like this happened, so our projected increase is 7 percent. That is a lot more than 3.9 percent and included an additional $528,248. That solved some of the hurt caused by the 9.5 percent health insurance increase.”

Dolan is projecting local receipts will be increasing $200,000 in FY25, totaling $5.5 million. He said local receipts include fees, permits, licenses, motor vehicle excise taxes and the local meals’ tax option.

“This number is fairly consistent,” said Dolan. “We cannot count on these local receipts for substantial new revenues.”

Dolan noted that that the town has to pay $2,068,445 for short-term interest on the $63.5 million public safety buildings and Town Hall project.

“That is a debt exclusion, so that does not affect the operating budget,” said Dolan.

Dolan is also recommending that $100,000 be appropriated for the Stabilization Fund, which is the town’s rainy day fund. He also proposed appropriating $100,000 for the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) Trust.

The town administrator said the recommended $69.9 million spending plan for FY25 is “solid.”

“It’s our utmost responsibility to balance this budget,” said Dolan. “If we don’t have a solvent community, we do not have a community. Like any budget that I have been a part of or like anyone’s budget for their home or business, everyone does not get exactly what they want or need. We had to eliminate the town engineer position, and merged it with DPW Director John Tomasz’s job. He is now a town engineer and a DPW director. He is willing to do that and work with Capital Projects Manager John Scenna to get the job done. We share an assessor with Wakefield and Reading. The town of Lynnfield does not have an IT department and we do not have a human resources department. All of us struggle and all of us don’t get what we want, and some of us don’t get what we need. But the fact is, with this budget, we will deliver excellent services that the public deserves and expects of us.”

Dolan said local officials “increased anticipated revenue to the point we just feel comfortable.”

“This is a responsible, balanced budget where we used every tool in the tool box to expand public safety and provide historic financial commitment to our schools despite a 1 percent contribution in state aid this year,” said Dolan. “We had to temper spending due to an uncertain financial future in the state. What we don’t want to do is overspend in any way right now and create bigger problems for next year. There are a lot of communities in really bad shape right now. We are in really good shape. That is because we don’t live for today, we live for several years out. I think we pushed the limits this year because there are too many issues with the Fire Department and the schools.”

Capital budget

After Dolan gave an overview of the proposed operating budget for FY25, he discussed the recommended $1,638,570 capital budget for the next fiscal year.

“We are maintaining an aggressive capital program,” said Dolan.

Dolan said the FY25 capital budget includes $300,000 for road construction, $120,000 for a Ford F-550 dump truck for the DPW, $60,000 for a police cruiser, $100,000 to have the seats at Lynnfield High School reupholstered and $125,000 for school technology expenses.

Additionally, Dolan said the FY25 capital budget also includes $110,000 to raze the historic Danforth House that is located in close proximity to the Reedy Meadow Golf Course. The capital budget also includes $180,00 for a fire alarm bucket truck, $30,000 for Pillings Pond algae treatment and $15,000 for a new phone system for the Lynnfield Public Library.

Reaction

Select Board member Dick Dalton commended Dolan, Town Accountant/Assistant Finance Director Julie McCarthy and all of the department heads for developing the recommended FY25 spending plan.

“It has been a very challenging budget to put together, and kudos to you and all of the department head heads,” said Dalton. “There are needs and wants, but I think this budget accomplished what it had to. Without their involvement, we wouldn’t have gotten to this point.”

Select Board member Phil Crawford agreed.

“I look forward to the challenges coming ahead,” said Crawford.

Select Board Chair Joe Connell commended Dolan and the department heads for developing a “transparent” budget.

“Nothing happens in this town in a vacuum,” said Connell. “Dick talks with the School Committee almost all year long. We have a great partnership with the Finance Committee as well. We work very hard to maintain our AA+ bond rating. We take our financial stability very seriously.”

Next steps

The Select Board and Finance Committee will be holding a public hearing on the town’s recommended operating budget for FY25 on Thursday, March 28, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Al Merritt Media and Cultural Center.