Hard choices for Holbrook budget
No matter how they crunch the numbers in Holbrook these days, the picture is grim. Even cutting staff costs almost as much as it saves.
The town is looking at cutting 28 jobs to balance the level-funded $30.25 million town and school budget for this year, which would save $550,000 in salaries. But the unemployment cost for those positions is $250,000, which means a net savings of only $300,000.
"For every three people you lay off, you get the savings for two," said Finance Committee chairman Gerry Prance. "Obviously this is not a position we'd like to be in at all, but we're trying not to be in the same position next year as well. This year, it is costing us money to downsize."
The Finance Committee is also considering closing the Holbrook Public Library and the Council on Aging to save another $410,000.
That is why, just months after voters rejected a $2.8 million Proposition 2 1/2 override request, town officials are trying again.
To save what the town deems to be the most important services at stake, officials this time are asking for a tax increase of $813,000 to keep the library and Council on Aging intact and restore some positions to the School Department.
The three questions seek about $395,000 for schools, $357,000 for the library, and $61,000 for the Council on Aging.
Closing the library would mean laying off four full-time and five part-time staffers. Director Ruth Hathaway says the town will save only $250,000 because it will take $100,000 to maintain the building for insurance purposes. That savings would account for just 2 percent of the town's budget. "It means the loss of a vital community center," said Hathaway, a library employee of 10 years and lifelong resident of Holbrook. "We cater to people here from birth to death."
Hathaway said the library provides story times for toddlers and preschoolers, summer reading programs, and book clubs for elementary and middle school students as well as adults. It is the meeting place for youngsters after school to socialize and do their homework together, to use computers that they may not have at home. It is the place where adults who do not know how to use computers can learn and conduct job searches online.
Connie Orlando, the coordinator for the Council on Aging, said the services the town's elders would lose are much more valuable than what she calls a "pathetic" $61,000 the town would save by closing the agency.
Council staff members take the elderly to doctor appointments and shopping for groceries, and provide social events for those who wouldn't otherwise get out of the house. "It is going to be crippling to the elders," Orlando said. "I think it would be a big disaster for them."
The School Department, which last year laid off 20 teachers, is looking at dismissing another 20 positions and cutting what amounts to $1.5 million from its budget. This year, that has meant the elimination of freshmen and junior-varsity sports as well as some extracurricular clubs, according to Superintendent Susan Martin.
If the cuts go through, in September there will be no varsity sports and extracurricular clubs, with the exception of the National Honor Society and Student Council. Cuts would also mean a reduction in testing, curriculum, and instruction materials.
Passage of the override would restore eight to 10 positions. "The community will decide the fate of the schools on June 10 and we all hope for a favorable outcome to help a struggling school system provide the best education possible for Holbrook students," Martin wrote in a recent e-mail.
Town Administrator Michael Yunits is cautioning the Finance Committee against recommending the layoffs of more people than the town can afford to lose to run town government.
"The main thing is: Can you continue the operation without these people?" he said recently. "And are they going to be rehired because you're not going to continue the operation without them? That poses a double-whammy financially, because you are paying the unemployment and employment expenses" for the same worker.
In April, voters rejected a $2.8 million override request, which, for the owner of a $302,000 house, would have added $595 in property taxes per year, for a total bill of $4,345. If all three requests pass next month, it would add $172 in taxes annually, Yunits said.
The vote is set for June 10.
But there is no remedy in sight for the town clerk's office, which stands to lose a part-time worker.
"I don't mind working hard, but I can't do this alone," said Town Clerk Shirley Austin. "I just can't. I cannot physically or mentally put on a national election and not have the staff to support me in preparing for the election. It is crazy."
