DEERFIELD — With the town gearing up for a second special election to decide on borrowing authority for road repairs, the Selectboard is preparing town departments for a scenario where they cannot borrow money.
The town has already spent up to $3 million to repair and open roads that were damaged or destroyed during rainstorms in July. In response, the Selectboard proposed borrowing up to $5 million to pay those bills and prepare for work on other roads in town, including River Road.
That proposal passed overwhelmingly at an October Special Town Meeting in a public vote, but failed at the ballot box by four votes. While state aid may be on the way, the Selectboard has issued a memo to town departments asking them to review their budgets and see what could be cut in the event of a worst-case scenario where money cannot be borrowed and state aid is insufficient.
“What we need to do is come up with $3 million somewhere to cover the costs. … What isn’t mandated should be thrown in the pot,” said Selectboard Chair Carolyn Shores Ness, emphasizing that departments shouldn’t be planning on cuts, just identifying what could be done if needed.
Departments are expected to envision what a 20% cut would look like and report back to the Selectboard in early January.
“We are in a cash-flow problem and potentially a budget hole, so plan accordingly,” Selectboard member Tim Hilchey said, summing up what the board is asking departments to do.
Hilchey likened the borrowing authority to an “insurance policy” in the event that Deerfield doesn’t receive enough state money to pay the bills.
“Doing it now gives us the time to go through the process and find out how much money we’re going to get from the state,” Hilchey said. “It’s not like any of us want to spend money and raise taxes.”
State aid is on the way, although the exact amounts going to individual municipalities is unknown. Legislators this month passed a $3.1 billion supplemental budget that includes $15 million for municipal disaster relief, although the state is still determining the specifics.
On social media, some residents have questioned the town’s spending habits and why there was no money set aside for emergencies, to which Selectboard member Trevor McDaniel said the town already runs on a tight budget. He said having some sort of “slush fund” holding millions of dollars of taxpayer money is not only inefficient, but would bring more financial questions up from residents.
Only one resident attended the Selectboard meeting on Wednesday to discuss the funding shortfalls during the public comment period.
Additionally, McDaniel said government is a slow-moving machine and having this borrowing authority — which could be rescinded at a future Town Meeting — would mean the town can better respond to these difficulties without having to cut town services in the current fiscal year.
“We’re not looking to borrow $5 million, it’s an authorization,” he said. “We need that flexibility. It’s not like a private entity where you can just make a decision.”
As the Selectboard continues to examine the lead-up to the election earlier this month, all three members said the blame falls on themselves for failing to describe to voters how important the vote was. Roughly 9.8% of the town’s 3,957 registered voters participated on Dec. 5.
“We didn’t get the word out that there was a vote, we didn’t explain why the vote was necessary and the result is almost nobody came out to vote,” Hilchey said, with McDaniel emphasizing it was “not [town] staff’s fault; it’s our fault.”
The board, however, will have a second chance, as it scheduled another special election — which costs about $2,000 to run — on the borrowing authority for Tuesday, Jan. 16. A community information session is expected to be held in the week prior to the vote.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.