By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — In preparation for the June 12 Annual Town Meeting and the recommendations to be made to the town’s voters on capital improvement spending priorities in FY24, the town’s Capital Improvement Planning Committee’s (CIPC) has created its list of recommendations to the Select Board and the town’s voters for capital acquisitions in Fiscal Year 2024.
The memo also included early projections for spending on capital projects in FY25. The draft memo and plan were presented to the Select Board April 24 by the CIPC which is comprised of Chair Donald Kelliher of the Finance Committee; Vice Chair Michael Connelly, the assistant superintendent of finance and operations for the School Department; Clerk Jeff Friedman, a member of the School Committee; Abby Hurlbut, FinCom chairwoman; Kathryn Manupelli, Select Board chairwoman; Vincenzo Stuto, Select Board vice chairman; Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto and Joseph Foti.
Municipal and School Departments
“A total of $4.155 million in capital projects of the Municipal and School Departments is being recommended by the CIPC for FY24,” CIPC Chairman Don Kelleher noted in his recent report to the Select Board. “The funding sources include Free Cash and a contribution from the Capital Improvement Stabilization Fund of $1.112 million, $1.542 million in bonding and $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.”
“As has been our traditional practice, committee members individually ranked requests in priority order after several meetings with department heads promoting their requests, and many hours of deliberation in committee meetings. The individual rankings were averaged resulting on a committee average upon which these recommendations are based,” explained Kelliher.
“Significant among the projects included in this recommendation is funding to complete the design and construction of three of the four intersections deemed to be the most hazardous in town,” Kelliher stated. These intersections are Haverhill and Chestnut Streets, Central and Park Streets, and Central and North Streets.
“The fourth intersection (Park/Concord/Southwick) is expected to be recommended for FY25,” he added.
Additionally, the CIPC is recommending the replacement of the Park Street bridge, which is located between Winter and Main Streets (across the street from the Masonic building); funding the engineering design to replace a culvert on Chestnut Street; replacing the HVAC system at the Flint Memorial Library; and replacing a 2006 dump truck.
Kelliher gave the Select Board advance notice of the major projects coming up in FY25 for which the CIPC anticipates requesting funds. These include: the Chestnut Street culvert (estimated cost: $3 million), boiler at Hood School ($900,000, before possible MSBA grant), the fourth intersection at Park/Concord/Southwick ($685,000), roadway construction (estimated to be $800,000), and possibly funding the downtown sewer connection of several municipal buildings to the High School/Middle School treatment plant ($2 million). Doing so would eliminate the need for each of these septic systems to be replaced individually in the coming years at significant capital cost. The treatment plant at the NRHS/MS campus was built with excess capacity in mind.
ENTERPRISE FUNDS
Kelliher also reported on anticipated capital improvement projects to be funded by three separate Enterprise Funds which were set up for such purposes.
Parks and Recreation
The Parks and Recreation enterprise plans $415,000 in improvements funded by state grants or internal funds.
Hillview Enterprise
The Hillview Enterprise is planning on spending $100,000 on the Function Building and $300,000 on golf course projects, all funded with internal funding sources. It should be noted that it is likely that a major roof project is on the horizon for next year or the following year.
Water Enterprise
The Water Enterprise has a water main rehabilitation and replacement project ($500,000) and water distribution project ($200,000) planned for FY24. They will both be bonded. A 2012 vehicle will be replaced using internal funds.
Kelliher stated the CIPC offers its thanks to all of the department heads as well as their support staffs “for making themselves available to the committee and answering our endless questions.” In particular, he cited the work of acting Finance Director Laurianne Galvin “for providing hours of support” which enabled the CIPC to make these recommendations.
INFORMATIONAL BUDGET HEARING MONDAY
On Monday, May 8, at 8 p.m., the Select Board will hold its annual informational public hearing on the FY24 municipal operating budget in preparation for recommendations to be made by the board members to the voters at Town Meeting. They’re also focused on getting the Town Meeting Warrant signed for the June 12 spring Town Meeting.
Last month, the administration was projecting that the total funds available for municipal budgets would be $19,361,555 while requests for funding from department heads had totaled $21,346,863. Resolving that gap of $1,985,308 has been their focus to come up with a modified Municipal budget for FY24
“We are pretty close to having everything finalized for the budget and for the warrant,” Gilleberto told the Transcript earlier this week, after another round of multiple meetings with department heads and the Financial Planning Team. “That’s what the focus has been the second part of last week and will be the focus this week as well for us and others in Town Hall.”