By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The Town Council reviewed and approved seven more FY 2024 departmental budgets last night as the municipal budget season continues. Town Accountant Kevin Gill joined the board at the WCAT studio and provided the numbers for each budget with department heads on hand to fill in details and answer questions.
The Fire Department Budget was approved at $6,467,517, including an increase of $140,185. Gill said that the increase includes raises for the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief but does not include the firefighters’ union contract, which is still being negotiated. When that contract is settled, the dollar amount will be handled via a Town Meeting article, Gill said.
Gill noted that the budget includes a $50,000 increase in the overtime line item.
Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Purcell, who is serving as provisional chief while Chief Michael Sullivan is out on medical leave, presented the budget along with Gill.
There was some discussion of the fact that the number of calls that the Fire Department handles has increased by several hundred in each of the last two years.
“The abundance of calls is putting a strain on the department,” Purcell acknowledged, adding that the number of simultaneous calls for service has also gone up. He noted that when two new firefighters graduate from the academy in April, the department will be at full staffing for the first time in years.
There was also some discussion of the rapid growth of housing developments and population in town, which is placing increasing demands on public safety departments. Town Councilor Edward Dombroski said that he wanted to make sure that the town was keeping pace in terms of resources for those departments.
Purcell agreed, suggesting that the town consider an “impact fund” that developers would pay into as one way to address the financial impact of this new growth.
The Town Council vote approving the Fire Department budget was unanimous.
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The Council also approved the Health and Human Services Department budget at $389,892 for FY 2024. That amount included a $6,816 increase, Gill said. He explained that there was a $12,984 increase in the personal services line item, but a decrease of $6,594 in the contractual services line. He said that that reduction was related to Stoneham joining the intermunicipal agreement for health services along with Wakefield and Melrose.
He noted that the Health Department generates between $40,000 and $50,000 in revenue each year.
Health Director Anthony Chui noted that the department added a full-time inspector focusing on food safety last September, which has enabled the department to do more work on education in addition to the 285 routine food inspections done every year.
He also talked about the addition of a Social Services Coordinator last September, noting that 94 households have been served since that time. He discussed the types of services provided and the demographics of the population served.
Chui also talked about Catherine Dhingra’s roles and responsibilities as head of the department’s Human Services division.
Board of Health chair Candace Linehan joined the meeting via Zoom to weigh in on services, policies and the budget.
It was noted that while the FY 2024 Health and Human Services budget was supplemented by $50,000 in ARPA funds, that amount was almost $100,000 less than last year.
However, that sum was replaced in the FY 2024 budget by $100,000 that the town received from the opioid class-action settlement.
Town Councilor Edward Dombroski expressed serious concerns about an approach to budgeting built on using one-time infusions of cash to fund ongoing expenses. He insisted that such an approach was not sustainable.
Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio said the opioid settlement, which will be paid out over a decade, will provide more of a “cushion” for weaning the budget off ARPA funds.
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The Town Council approved the Animal Inspector’s budget at a level-funded $40,600 for FY 2024. The town has contracted out animal control services in recent years.
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Gill said that the $12,573 Parking Clerk’s budget was decreased by $209 for next year. The budget was approved.
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The General Insurance budget was increased by $23,594 for a total of $522,725. The Town Council approved the budget.
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The $493,000 Workers Compensation budget was approved with a $5,220 increase.
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The final budget on the Town Council agenda last night was the Retirement budget. Gill said that the $7,846,037 total budget request included an increase of $402,223 for FY 2024. The budget was approved.
All budgets are also reviewed by the Finance Committee before going to the voters at the Annual Town Meeting in May.