By Keith Regan, Contributing Writer
Northborough–The arduous storm-filled winter of 2013-2014 may seem like a distant memory, but it took until the dog days of July for Northborough to finish balancing the books for the money it spent responding to the onslaught of wintry weather.
The Board of Selectmen approved July 14 two year-end transfers that will close out the books on fiscal year (FY) 2014 and backfill a snow and ice removal budget deficit that ballooned to $268,120 before spring finally sprang.
Transfers of $150,000 from the town's emergency fund and $118,120 from the health insurance fund will cover the deficit, said Town Administrator John Coderre. State law allows deficit spending in snow accounts and also gives communities the option of addressing shortfalls in the following fiscal year. However, the board agreed that a solution that addresses the gap in the same fiscal year is a more prudent option.
“This is what the emergency fund is for and health insurance is a success story for us,” with just a 1 percent increase over last year,” Coderre said. “We had expected a larger increase, so we have some flexibility.”
The net result will be a decrease in the free cash account heading into FY 2015, which began July 1.
The current budget has more than $600,000 set aside for snow and ice removal, Coderre said, a number based on a running five-year average of what the town actually spends.
Asked if he was confident that number would be sufficient, he answered: “It's up to Mother Nature.”
