Residents’ group wants part of reserve cash returned without cutting budgets
By Christian Schiavone
Wed Jul 09, 2008, 04:44 PM EDT

Acton, Mass. -

A group of residents is urging voters to prevent a property tax increase this year by using $2.4 million in town reserves to cover rising costs of running the town.

The Board of Selectmen has so far opted to hold onto the money left over from the town’s participation in the Northeast Solid Waste Consortium. Members say the strategy is to bolster finances if the state and national economies continue to struggle in coming years.

But a growing number of residents say that money should go back to residents facing falling home values, a shaky stock market and soaring energy costs.

"There’s a lot of cash out there and we’ve seen a lot of people with a lot of plans on how to spend it,” said Clint Seward, president of the newly formed Acton Voters Group. "But there’s been no movement to give voters a real choice on it. We decided to do that.”

Seward said members of the group will soon begin collecting the 200 signatures needed to call a special Town Meeting in the fall to put their proposal before the voters.

The question of how to spend the NEWSC money has been an issue for town officials since the town left the consortium two years ago. Beginning in the 1980s, the town capped its old landfill and joined many of the surrounding towns in partnering to burn their trash in an incinerator plant in North Andover.

Acton also set aside funds in case there were any future environmental problems with the town’s landfill, a need that never materialized.

Earlier this year, the selectmen considered using much of the NESWC funds — which currently amount to about $5.1 million — to pay for various capital needs around town, but decided to hold onto the money when grim predictions about the economy sparked fears of reduced state aid in the next few years.

"We realized we were heading into a recession and we needed as much resources as possible,” said Selectmen Chairwoman Lauren Rosenzweig. "We worked hard to keep the budget down so we’d have those reserves.”

Town Manager Steve Ledoux agreed that spending a significant chunk of the NESWC funds in one year could have a major impact on town finances if the economy continues to drag in the next few years.

"My concern is how it might jeopardize our ability to weather a recession as a town,” he said.

In the weeks leading up to April’s Town Meeting, town officials cut over $1 million from their budget, largely to preserve the town’s reserve funds, including the NESWC money. Rosenzweig said those funds could be used for needs such as offsetting a potential drop in state aid to the local schools or to pay for repairs on the town’s aging fire stations and other municipal buildings.

Having significant reserves also puts the town in a position to take out loans at a lower interest rate, she said.

Rosenzweig added that voters already approved the town’s plans for the NESWC funds when they passed the budget in April.

"At Town Meeting voters made that decision. If [the petitioners] would like to come back and ask them again, they’re welcome to,” she said.

But Seward said that with Acton’s property taxes being among the highest in the state and the original need for the NESWC reserves no longer an issue, the money should be returned to the taxpayers.

"People were taxed for something that was a good idea at the time, but didn’t happen. Why not give it back to the voters?” he said.

Seward emphasized that approval of the proposal would not result in budget cuts in this year’s budget, but would help low-income residents and seniors cope with the town’s high taxes.

With an average single-family tax bill of $8,051 in the last fiscal year, which ended July 1, Acton was among the top 20 highest taxed towns out of the state’s 351 municipalities. This year’s average tax bill will not be calculated until later this fall, but Seward said the $2.4 million from the NESWC funds would keep this year’s tax bills within pennies of last year’s.

Dick Calandrella, another member of the Acton Voters Group, said he joined out of frustration with the lack of financial information given at the Town Meeting in April. The meeting was almost derailed in its first night when voters objected to supporting a budget when the warrant did not include dollar figures for most of the articles. A separate budget supplement was passed out at the beginning of the meeting, but many voters complained that they did not have sufficient time to read it before being asked to vote.

"The beginning of Town Meeting was really an embarrassment,” said Calandrella. "I think a lot of this stems from that frustration.”

Seward and Calandrella said a special Town Meeting would give voters a better chance to focus on the single agenda item without the confusion and length of a full annual Town Meeting.

Christian Schiavone can be reached at 978-371-5743 or at cschiavo@cnc.com.