Wayland FinCom Cuts Proposed Operating Budget

The Wayland Finance Committee voted Wednesday night to adjust the operating budget proposed in the 2012 Annual Town Meeting Warrant.

During a meeting that adjourned just after midnight, the committee voted to cut about $2.3 million from the proposed Fiscal 2013 operating budget. The committee made cuts to the pension and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) payments, the biggest part of which goes to retiree healthcare benefits.

Of that $2.3 million, about $1.3 million was subtracted from the proposed taxation needs of the town, thereby reducing the estimated tax rate increase for FY13.

The proposed OPEB payment of about $2.2 million was reduced to slightly more than $1.3 million and the proposed pension payment, which included a $1 million one-time prepayment, was cut from about $4.6 million to approximately $3.2 million.

FinCom Chair Cherry Karlson said the per household impact of these changes is still being figured, but the changes do mean that the necessary FY13 tax increase from FY12 would be less than the 5.6 percent average tax bill increase necessary to fund the budget printed in the warrant.

The budget reductions came to pass after the FinCom heard from residents who brought forward additional information related to the numbers on which the committee built the proposed FY13 budget. In particular, Karlson said, they learned that the base number on which the FinCom based its pension payment proposal actually included a $400,000 prepayment that residents approved for FY12, rather than simply the state-mandated base amount.

In addition, FinCom also voted to remove a proposed $1 million pension prepayment that was to come from the town’s free cash account. The cuts together reduce Wayland's total proposed pension payment to the state-mandated minimum of slightly under $3.2 million.

The $1 million reduction does not impact Wayland’s tax rate as it was slated to come from free cash, but Karlson said a taxation reduction would be realized by removing the FY12 prepayment of $400,000 from the pension line item.

In addition to those specific pension and OPEB changes, Karlson said FinCom also voted Wednesday to apply slightly more free cash, $3.3 million up from an originally proposed $3.2 million, to funding the budget. The committee also voted to use $420,000 in overlay surplus funds to fund the budget.

“We can’t put more money toward the budget than we have, even though we know it’s coming in,” Karlson said, speaking of anticipated upcoming free cash deposits. “We’ve basically used all the free cash that we can.”

Documents outlining the operating budget changes will be available as handouts at the upcoming Annual Town Meeting that opens on Monday, April 9, at Wayland Middle School.

Editor's Note: The article has been updated for clarity.