The Director of the Department of Public Works(DPW), Mr. Hickox, gave a very good presentation last night on the effects of a 15% reduction in the overall budget of his department. Mr. Hickox pointed out that the reduction would result in the 7 fewer employees and would severely impact the capability of the highway and construction divisions. He noted that the roadways and bridges in Dartmouth represent the largest asset of the town and that failing to maintain that asset can result in higher costs in the future.
I agree with the assessment ...
... that road maintenance has to be a high priority. Maintaining what we have will prevent the need to replace road surfaces at a much higher cost. I also agree that the budget reductions in the highway and construction divisions would hurt their ability to function effectively. A 15% reduction in the DPW budget would cut over $400K from that department. Mr. Hickox needs to restore about $260K of that $400K to maintain the current staffing of the highway and construction divisions. The Select Board voted to decrease the reduction in the DPW budget by that $260K amount.
That reprieve may be short-lived depending upon the outcome of collective bargaining with the town employee unions. The FY10 budget does not include any money for wage and salary increases. If increases are negotiated, the funding for the remainder of the budget will probably result in the need for layoffs.
Curt Brown has an article in today's Standard Times on this issue.
Friday, February 6, 2009
DPW funding for FY10
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8 comments:
A little confused about the brush and tree trimming. It sounded like the DPW wanted to keep this in-house but the only people I see out there doing this work is Barnes tree service. Can someone explain?
The DPW spent many hours last year in my area , Slades corner rd , Fisher rd. last spring or summer. They've been the only ones I've seen.
Barnes has been in the precinct 10 area for the last month. If you happen to notice there are usually 5-6 trucks at CV Variety every day at lunch because they have been in the area cutting trees & brush on the sides of the roads. It would seem to me that maybe the DPW doesn't have the manpower to handle the whole town so why not outsource or privatize it. It is possible we could get a better deal if someone were given the whole job and that would free up more DPW workers to do other things.
If I dont have any trees why am I paying for tree removal? I dont use it I dont want to pay. charge each homeowner who uses the service.
Tree trimming is essential to anyone who has electricity,tel or cable, regardless of whether or not you have trees in front of your house. This would include just about everybody. I'm quite sure the last poster was just being sarcastic and trying to get a cheap shot in at those who support fiscal responsibility. More bad behavior from the pro-tax crowd.
Mr. Trimble,
Question and maybe this has been discussed and I'm sorry if it has. But could the Town save with regionalizing Health insurance? Combine with Westport, New Bedford etc.
Barnes Tree is hired and paid for by NSTAR. This IS NOT a town project. NSTAR hires the tree companies to clear the lines and make sure they arent tangles in the tree limbs. NSTAR also pays for the detail officer.
The town could join the state pool of health care (GIC), but they chose not to after a presentation a year or two ago by the people that manage and consult their health care now. Even though the presenters admitted that they would stand to lose business if the town made the switch, that was the end of looking into the GIC. I don't know if joining would have saved much if anything but I do think they should have investigated further. Nobody from GIC ever came in to make a presentation.
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