Data task force prepares for salary study
By Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Staff Writer

Town officials are trying to get a handle on the upcoming budget by collecting data on employee salaries and the budgets of 17 cities and towns.

The Data Collection and Dissemination Task Force received approval from the Board of Selectmen during their meeting on Nov. 29 to look at group of 11 local towns for salary comparisons and a group of eight economically similar towns for budget comparisons. Task Force Chairwoman Rebecca Walsh said only two towns - Ashburnham and Hubbardston - are both local and economically similar.

Selectman Geoff Woollacott said that even if towns like Fitchburg, Townsend and Westminster aren't similar, they are important to include in the salary study.

"The regional towns are who we have to compete with for labor," he said.

The local towns the committee will be compiling information on for salary comparisons are Ashburnham, Dunstable, Fitchburg, Hubbardston, Lunenburg, Pepperell, Shirley, Templetown, Townsend, Westminster and Winchendon.

The task force also will collect information on the town's budget and revenue sources and will study Bernardston, Brimfield, Cheshire, Sheffield, Wales and West Brookfield, as well as Ashburnham and Hubbardston.

These towns were chosen because they were similar to Ashby in at least two of the following ways: budget per capita, budget per square mile, tax rate and/or population density.

Walsh told selectmen that some towns were not considered similar because another economic factor changed the town's budget drastically, such as Shirley, which houses a prison. and the former Fort Devens, as well as towns in the western Massachusetts that have colleges.

Walsh said the task force's mission is to "collect data as a basis for objective studies of the town's operations, coupled with the simultaneous dissemination of results" to residents and boards.

The task force is comprised of Walsh of the Finance Committee, Mary Krapf, the chairwoman of the Board of Health, Tim Bauman of the Conservation Commission, and Andrew Leonard, the town's land use agent.

"We're going to strive to have this (information) in time for the budget process," she said.

The task force was given its mission over the summer after Steve McLatchy resigned as police chief and the Finance Committee and the Board of Selectmen voted to increase the salary for the position. Those officials agreed it is important to do a study of town salaries and job descriptions, and make a comparison with those in other towns.

The task force is focusing solely on the data-collection aspect.

Selectmen and finance committee members believe the information will assist them in making financial decisions in what appears to be a tight budget year. Town officials sought a Proposition 2 1/2

override last year for the operating budget and believe they may have try to level-fund the FY08 budget.

Town Administrator Linda Sanders told selectmen at the Nov. 29 meeting that department heads held their first budget meeting before Thanksgiving.

She called the meeting an "eye opener" because it appears new growth is down, so even with a level-funded budget an override will be necessary.

"At our next meeting we're going to talk about demolishing services and departments," she said.

Selectman Chairman Peter McMurray said that it was going to be important to seriously consider giving employees a cost-of-living raise this year. "We didn't give raises last year," he said.

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Caitlyn Kelleher can be reached at (978) 827-3386, ext. 14, or e-mail: editor@thecommunityjournal. com