Sunderland finds solution to omitted capital stabilization assessments

Sunderland Town Offices. Staff File Photo/Paul Franz
Published: 04-22-2025 12:29 PM |
SUNDERLAND — The town will avoid dipping into its reserves to address its omission of $409,875 in capital stabilization assessments to taxpayers in fiscal year 2025.
After several Selectboard and Capital Planning Committee meetings, it was decided that the town will transfer more than $90,000 of money that is leftover from previous projects and another roughly $90,000 that had already been approved for projects to address the front steps and floors at the Town Offices to offset the omission. That total, of $186,627, will supplement the $200,000 that is already in the Capital Stabilization Account and an additional $40,000 in Eversource rebates coming to the town.
Selectboard Chair Nathaniel Waring said Town Administrator Becky Torres were able to comb through projects from previous years to scrounge up the $90,000 of leftover money. Meanwhile, the floor and stair projects at the Town Offices had money appropriated, but no engineering done, so those projects will instead have $10,000 requests for engineering, allowing the $40,000 and $50,000 that was previously set aside to shore up the stabilization fund.
Torres discovered the town didn’t raise the $409,875 when she was preparing fiscal year 2026 revenue sheets, despite successfully collecting that assessment in FY24. With projects expected to be funded through that account already underway, the town needed to make up the shortfall.
The upcoming FY26 budget is unaffected by the error and the town sought guidance from the state Department of Revenue, Torres previously said. The error essentially amounted to a one-year tax break for residents.
Residents approved a $275,000 Proposition 2½ override for the Capital Stabilization Fund at the 2023 annual town election to support future projects. Voters in 2014 also approved a $100,000 override for capital projects.
Initial solutions discussed by town officials were to call a Special Town Meeting prior to the April 25 Annual Town Meeting to transfer money from free cash or the General Stabilization Fund.
The plan changed, though, as Waring said it is important to keep the town’s reserves as “liquid as possible.” Money in the free cash or General Stabilization Fund can be applied to more scenarios.
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“That money is more fluid, more able to be used for budget stabilization next year or for large non-capital projects in the future,” Waring said. “That’s the direction the Capital Stabilization Committee wanted to go in.”
The Selectboard voted 3-0 to approve the plan.
Once this year’s projects are funded, the move leaves the town with some seed money for future projects.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.