MARLBOROUGH – Most of the midyear transfers requested by Mayor J. Christian Dumais were approved by the City Council’s Finance Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
The transfers, which totaled about $1.2 million, were to help cover expenses in several departments, including the Mayor’s Office, City Clerk and Department of Public Works.
Rising costs for electricity and natural gas, along with additional overtime, accounted for most of the DPW’s requests.
Dumais asked for $50,100 in transfers to cover several items, including:
– Coverage of vacation payout, sick leave buyback and overlap of the former chief of staff within the mayor’s office budget.
– Coverage of vacation payout and sick leave buyback of the former executive administrator within the mayor’s office budget.
– Coverage of cost for unexpected appraisals and consulting services within the assessing department budget. The request is for about $11,000, including the cost of a consultant to assist with recalculating the city’s affordable housing values.
– Coverage for additional phone lines and printing devices within the information technology department budget. This includes new phone lines and printers for the public library and upgrading the phone systems. The request is for $12,000.
– Coverage of additional inauguration and office supply expenses within the mayor’s office budget.
This last item came into question, with Council President Michael Ossing wanting more details. Dumais said there were expenses – about $5,000 – associated with the transition from the previous administration, including new stationery, proclamations, business cards, etc.
Ossing has requested the receipts associated with these expenses.
The committee voted to hold on this request pending more information, and approved the other transfer requests.
Town Clerk Steven Kerrigan asked for a transfer of $13,000 to cover expenses for early voting and other election-related materials. The committee approved that transfer as well.
