ORANGE — Although a proposal to increase Ralph C. Mahar Regional School’s budget by $339,722 proved favorable to voters at Annual Town Meeting on Monday, it is unclear what town departments might be impacted as a result.
Speaking at Town Meeting on Monday, Finance Committee Chair Keith LaRiviere warned that amending the recommended $4.3 million Mahar budget would likely result in layoffs in most town departments. But voters nevertheless changed the figure, agreeing to increase it by $339,722 before adopting it.
According to LaRiviere, Monday’s vote must now be ratified at the polls in a Proposition 2½ debt override vote. He said this will likely occur in late summer.
In an interview Tuesday, LaRiviere was careful to say he does not want to start a panic, but that he does not know where cuts may be made in town government.
“The revenue picture is still so uncertain that it’s impossible to know what the final budget looks like,” he said, adding it is unknown whether the state will contribute less than it has in previous years. “Anybody can speculate, but I don’t want to speculate.”
Patricia Smith, vice chair of the Mahar School Committee, took the microphone at Monday’s Town Meeting, held this year on the school’s football field, to advocate for increasing the school budget. She said the originally recommended figure would mean layoffs at the middle/high school. But LaRiviere, in response, told the 376 voters in attendance an increase in the recommended school budget would likely mean layoffs in most town departments. This would include the Orange Armory, which houses the Orange Senior Center.
“Can we do with fewer police officers? Can we do with fewer firefighters and EMTs?” he asked. “The Highway Department has six employees — how many of those do you want to lose?”
On Tuesday, LaRiviere said it is impossible right now to determine where cuts will be made if they have to be, but that the picture will be more clear in late summer or early fall, once state funding becomes more concrete.
“We could be talking modest cuts, we could be talking severe cuts or we could be talking disastrous cuts,” he said. “We just don’t know.”
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.