Acton officials are not following Town bylaws and this seems to explain in part the proposed 7.2% budget expansions and the proposed raise in property taxes by 4.1%. Acton bylaws give the Finance Committee the duty to prepare a long term financial forecast, but none has been provided. Acton has also apparently run into potentially expensive personnel problems by neglecting to appoint the Personnel Board to review pay and benefits as outlined in the bylaws.

Without a long term financial forecast, Acton budgets are expanding seemingly without regard to the troubling economic outlook in the news every day. The question Acton officials need to answer is simple: can Acton’s proposed 7.2% budget expansions be maintained over the next few years in the face of a declining economy? Specifically, how likely is it that this proposed budget expansion will return Acton to the contentious override battles of the recent past in order to maintain the budget expansions?

The economic downturn is already beginning to bring bad news from Beacon Hill, with reductions in revenue from excise taxes; a sure sign of economic downturn. State tax revenue is declining which puts at risk continued State aid increases. In addition, the Governor’s new budget is planning many new State spending initiatives. And there are news articles reporting the unexpectedly large funding requirements for the new health insurance plan. In view of this, how risky is Acton’s budget expansions which rely on continuing State aid increases?

Acton citizens should ask the Board of Selectmen, Fincom, and ALG (Acton Leadership Group) for the required five year forecast prior to Town Meeting. By good fortune, the new Town Manager, Steve Ledoux, is preparing town budgets for Westford. At the January 18th ALG meeting he was asked what he might suggest be done to improve the Acton budget process. The one thing he said is that Westford starts with a five year plan, as required by their bylaws.

A second Acton bylaw being neglected provides for a five-member Personnel Board whose duties including reviewing the pay rates, compensation practices, and benefit plans. Everyone agrees that Acton town employees serve Acton well and deserve to be paid fairly. But absent the Personnel Board, the review and management of the personnel pay and benefits has been neglected and is resulting in a potentially expensive budget problem.

Recently Acton commissioned The Segal Group to compare Acton employees’ pay and benefits to other towns. The Segal report raises many questions which a Personnel Board should evaluate. It is not clear that the BOS has reviewed this sufficiently, which is understandable given their many other BOS duties.

First, are the Segal towns a suitably representative sample for comparison to Acton since most local towns to Acton are not considered? The local towns not considered include Littleton, Westford, Stow, Maynard, Harvard, Carlisle, and Boxboro. The towns Segal selected are mostly close to Boston with higher real estate prices, higher costs of living, and therefore presumably higher personnel costs (Andover, Bedford, Belmont, Brookline, Burlington, Chelmsford, Concord, Danvers, Hingham, Lexington, Newton, Sudbury, Wayland, Wellesley, and Weston). A Personnel Board should evaluate this. How does Acton compare to local towns?

Second, why are much larger towns than Acton included in the Segal survey; towns like Newton, Brookline, Andover, Wellesley, and Belmont? The City of Newton, for example, is four times larger than Acton. Removing the five largest towns from the Segal calculation shows Acton pay scales to be 102.7% of comparably sized towns, which seems to say that Acton is paying fairly. This compares to the 97% calculation when the larger towns are included. A Personnel Board should review this.

The activities surrounding this issue are happening fast. The BOS announced a new policy at the December 4th Fincom meeting that will raise all Acton nonunion pay grades from 97% to 105% of the Segal towns. Fincom then informed the BOS on January 13th that it would not recommend a budget with this increase. At a special meeting on January 19th the BOS rescinded its 105% policy, voted to hire a new Human Resources Manager to review this situation, and moved the budget amount into a contingency fund in case it is needed next year.

In order to treat Acton employees fairly the BOS and Fincom need to sort out this issue prior to Town Meeting. It will have a potentially large impact on the budget for years to come. The new Town Manager and new Human Resources Director will have a chance to lead this effort. And Fincom needs to be sure any contingency funds are closely watched.

In summary, Acton Officials need to follow the bylaws in preparing the proposed budget this year. There is time to sort this out before Town Meeting. Acton citizens need to email BOS, ALG, and Fincom to ask that they operate in accord with the bylaws.

Clint Seward is a 20 plus Acton resident and can be reached at cseward@verizon.net.

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