In normal years, spring is the time of Town Meetings, town elections and financial preparation for the July 1 start of the next fiscal year.
But this year, as the current coronavirus crisis creeps deeper into the spring budgeting season, it’s becoming more likely those town government functions will be pushed past the end of the fiscal year, causing logistical problems as towns financially plan for the coming year.
Town Meetings that had been set for April or early May have been ruled out by the state government’s ban on large public gatherings, which is effective until at least May 4 and could be extended.
Technically, smaller town meetings are still possible under the ban. For example, Hawley, a town of just over 300 people, recently held a one-article Special Town Meeting outside, in a parking lot. Voters were instructed to stand at least 6 feet apart to follow social distancing guidelines, and within a matter of 60 seconds, the moderator had opened the meeting, called the vote and adjourned.
But for many towns, that is not realistic.
“We have too large a Town Meeting to be doing it in a parking lot next to a school, or something of that nature,” explained Montague Town Administrator Steve Ellis.
If the state’s ban on large public gatherings is extended through May or into June, towns will be pushed uncomfortably close to the end of the fiscal year without having had any opportunity for Town Meeting voters to approve fiscal year 2021 budgets. If it is extended into July, they will be pushed into the new fiscal year without any formal financial plan.
Foreseeing potential problems, the state Legislature passed a law that gives towns mechanisms for delaying their Annual Town Meetings past the end of June, and for creating temporary spending plans in the absence of a Town Meeting-approved budget.
But even before the law was passed, Franklin County towns had begun rescheduling Annual Town Meetings and elections that seemed increasingly likely to be displaced by the coronavirus.
Erving, for example, normally holds its Annual Town Meeting the first Wednesday in May — which, this year, falls within the state’s ban on public gatherings.
The Erving Selectboard, a few days before the state passed its new law, scheduled its Annual Town Meeting for June 17. Administrative Coordinator Bryan Smith said the town had wanted to push the date as far as it could without leaving too little time to prepare for the July 1 start of the new fiscal year. Erving’s town election is always the Monday after Annual Town Meeting, putting it now at June 22.
Montague’s Annual Town Meeting had been scheduled for May 2, and was rescheduled to June 13 in the Selectboard’s meeting on Monday. The election was moved to June 22.
Gill has not set a date for its Annual Town Meeting, but it is traditionally the first Monday in May. The Selectboard plans to set a date on April 13, Town Administrator Ray Purington said.
“I think it’s already a foregone conclusion that we won’t have a Town Meeting in May,” Purington said.
None of the delays so far go past the end of the fiscal year, so they don’t affect budgeting. But town financial workers are already preparing.
At the end of March, the Montague Finance Committee finalized a $26.17 million budget proposal it had planned to bring before Annual Town Meeting voters. By the time the committee met to approve the proposal, committee Chair Jen Audley already considered it to be outdated.
“I think what we approved gives us a good basis,” Audley said. “It’s totally going to change.”
Pushing past the end of the fiscal year without a budget, if necessary, won’t be disastrous. In such an instance, Montague Town Accountant Carolyn Olsen said the town could move money from departments that are set to end the year at a surplus, and re-allocate that money to departments that are running low.
The new law creates special mechanisms for towns to continue to function without an annual budget. Most notably, a town’s Selectboard can set a month-to-month budget until a year-long budget can be approved by Town Meeting voters.
The law also allows towns to spend at a deficit if necessary to cover major expenses from coronavirus-related emergencies, like building a quarantine structure. But Olsen said that would be unlikely in Montague’s case.
“I’m not expecting to need to use that,” she said.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.