LYNNFIELD — The Select Board gave unanimous approval Monday night to both a fiscal year 2023 budget overview and a breakdown of how American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds have been allocated by the town.
Selectmen approved Town Administrator Robert Dolan’s power-point breakdown of ARPA funds, most of which were allocated toward improving heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in schools and the Senior Center.
Dolan’s budget presentation was approved by the board for forwarding to the April 6 budget hearing (6:30 p.m.) at the Merritt Center at 600 Market St.
Dolan said the town received more than $3.88 million in ARPA funding, awarded by the federal government to help local economies recover from the hit they took as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The money, which is to be used for one-time expenses not tied into the annual budget, must be spent by the end of FY24.
The town is already well into the first year’s application of that money. Dolan said $309,928 of the $1.9 million in the first year was spent on an ambulance, with rollover funds available for the town to purchase another one if needed.
Also on the first-year list of spending was money for two new police cruisers, vaccination clinics and contact tracing, administrative expenses, $161,019 for four new cardiac monitors and $782,680 to start upgrading HVAC systems in the schools.
In the second year, HVAC improvements to the tune of more than $700,000 would continue in the high school and the Council on Aging.
“We’re taking care of the two most vulnerable parts of our community,” Dolan said. “The students and the elderly.”
Selectman Joe O’Connell, in approving the money, said that actually, the money goes further than just the young and old, with funds being earmarked for other life-saving apparatus as well.
“Even in the case of the school,” said John Tomasz, director of public works, “that even the newest of these buildings is 20 years old.”
Dolan said that the new HVAC improvements would include carbon-dioxide monitors, and they would be more energy efficient.
“Our No. 1 health concern is to have the greatest possible ventilation,” he said. “Bad air can greatly compromise health. Disease can be transmitted in so many ways.”
Board Chair Richard Dalton commended Dolan and his committee on identifying one-time expenditures that can have a lasting effect on the town.
“I think you all did a great job,” Dalton said.
Dolan, in talking about the budget, said there will always be challenges when it comes to calculating the budget, “but we should be able to get through it.”
He said the goals included developing a balanced budget, no use of free cash (which amounts to a $60,000 overlay), maintaining an aggressive capital program, continuing to build reserves to withstand another downturn in the economy, continuing to fund post-employment benefits liability and reflecting the priorities of the community.
Highlights of the FY23 budget include capital spending of $2.17 million, with $550,000 for paving and sidewalks; $100,000 for drainage improvements; $225,000 for three new dump trucks; National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirement ($83,000); Pillings Pond algae treatment ($25,000); a new cruiser ($47,500); fire station dormitory areas ($95,000); school technology ($250,000); and rough cut and fairway mowers for the golf course ($168,906).
Also highlighted are increases in the school budget for post-COVID needs; no new full-time staff in the town budget; and an overall budget increase of 3.3 percent.
Dolan said that many factors allowed for the budget to contain so much without compromising the town’s financial standing.
“People are buying things,” he said. “People are spending money. They’re going places.”
Also, he said, “the state is this year’s hero. We’ve received the most money since 2009, and I believe that number will increase. I don’t believe that the state is done.”
Also as the result of Monday’s meeting, the town will get a new pizza parlor: Louie’s Pizza, run by Guisedio Vasieo, on Broadway (Route 1); and John Welter was approved to fill the vacant seat on the Reading Municipal Light Commission.