CHELSEA — Town officials received the Selectboard’s blessing Thursday to cut more than $11,000 from the budget after a typographical error in the Town Meeting warrant left the budget short earlier this month.
No formal action was taken, but the board nodded in approval at the suggested cuts. Town Manager Scott Tilton said it would be up to him to monitor the budget, and no action was necessary from the board.
The origin of the problem was a typographical error in the June 13 Town Meeting warrant. Article 8, which read “to see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate not more than $229,660 for General Government,” contained the wrong figure.
Tilton said the figure was copied from the current fiscal year’s appropriation for general government expenditures, which include salaries for government workers, election costs, maintenance to the Town Office and auditing.
The figure that should have appeared in the article was $241,286. Because the article uses the words “not more than,” the figure could be adjusted only downward. The article eventually was passed as written, leaving officials to find ways to cut the $11,626 from the budget.
Tilton presented proposed cuts ahead of the meeting that brought the budget exactly in line with the approved amount. The cuts included general reductions in administrative expenses, such as IT support and printing, and larger cuts to repair and maintenance for the Town Office, such as a furnace replacement and the installation of a generator.
Tilton cut his own salary by $388, from $73,888 to $73,500, and the town clerk’s salary by $684 from $38,556 to $37,872.
Other small cuts, such as $1,095 for printing new seals on town vehicles and for display in the Town Office, and a $1,700 reduction in advertising, also will be monitored.
Tilton said he would give the Selectboard regular budget updates.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.