Third proposed budget includes funding for libraries in Orange

Wheeler Memorial Library at 49 East Main St. in Orange.

Wheeler Memorial Library at 49 East Main St. in Orange. Staff File Photo/Paul Franz

By DOMENIC POLI

Staff Writer

Published: 05-30-2024 2:05 PM

ORANGE — The third balanced budget proposal from Town Administrator Matt Fortier includes funding for the town’s two libraries, a stark contrast from the first draft that reflected Orange’s dire financial situation stemming from an estimated $338,000 paid in fraudulent invoices over the summer.

Fortier explained at the Selectboard’s May 22 meeting that the new proposed overall budget for fiscal year 2025 of $27.2 million, up from the current fiscal year’s budget of $26.9 million, includes several notable changes from the previous version, including $335,000 for the Wheeler Memorial and Moore-Leland libraries. He said this figure — down nearly $44,000 from what the libraries were allocated in the current fiscal year — was the result of a May 21 library trustees meeting that he attended, along with Selectboard Chair Tom Smith and Selectboard member Julie Davis. He also said this number is the lowest the libraries’ leadership believes it can work with. The proposed budget is expected to go before voters at Annual Town Meeting on June 17.

“Every department has cuts, unfortunately,” Fortier said last week.

Fortier and other members of the town’s finance team discovered in early September that the town had paid $338,000 in fraudulent invoices in July. Though the total was more than $800,000, the banks were able to stop some of those payments, he said. The matter is being investigated by the Orange Police Department, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office and the FBI, which assigned an agent to the case.

On May 20, the Orange Elementary and Ralph C. Mahar Regional school committees met to look at their budgets again at the Selectboard’s request for a $1.1 million reduction between the two school boards. Mahar committee members gave their blessing to a nearly $15.8 million budget for FY25, representing a 1.35% increase over the current fiscal year compared to the originally proposed $16.33 million budget that would have been a 4.75% increase. However, Orange Elementary School Committee members shot down a lower $8.65 million proposed budget that would have necessitated the reduction of two more staff members, as well as cuts in various other line items. That committee had approved a nearly $8.88 million budget in April that involved the reductions of 3½ positions.

Among other notable budget changes discussed at the May 22 Selectboard meeting, Fortier mentioned he has increased his previously proposed $1.5 million Fire Department budget by $150,000 to accommodate Chief James Young’s request to be able to better staff his two ambulances. Also, the proposed figures for the Police Department have been increased by $80,000 to help ensure staffing of the third shift.

According to Fortier, the $335,000 figure for the two libraries means Orange will still have to apply for a Municipal Appropriation Requirement waiver, which the state Board of Library Commissioners allows to accommodate towns that demonstrate fiscal hardship. Jason Sullivan-Flynn, who started as the libraries’ director on May 4, explained the Municipal Appropriation Requirement is the threshold to maintain library certification.

Fortier mentioned he thinks the libraries could survive on $250,000, but this would require reducing staff to “a skeleton crew.”

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The Wheeler Memorial Library is located at 49 East Main St. and the Moore-Leland Library is at 172 Athol Road. Wheeler Memorial receives far more traffic.

Sullivan-Flynn said he is grateful town officials have worked diligently to try to keep the libraries open. He praised the cooperation at the May 21 meeting, which included Finance Committee member Kathy Reinig.

“I thought it was a great way to solve a problem that we all knew needed to be solved,” he said.

However, Sullivan-Flynn said there will be “unpleasant repercussions” because the proposed $335,000 is still less than the libraries need. He said the result will be reduced hours and other measures he declined to comment on at this time.

“I am confident that we will stay open,” he said. “The best we can do is plan for the worst and hope that it doesn’t come to that.”

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.