Latest news in MA: shortage of trades people, carpenter, plumber, electrician, furniture makers, even people who make musical instruments, think violin and the wonderful sounds that come from those. Still schools push college, college college and more student debt and now, free college for all. News flash, ya'll go be doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, etc; there ain't gonna be no one to build your home, the environment, think plumbing, that toilet flush has to go somewhere. With the shortage comes longer time to get somethings done, which means time and as time passes by, costs go up. Think that big pine tree comes down on your house, it is winter, it is cold out and you need roof repaired, electric and maybe even the porta john fixed; sorry, will be 3 months before we can get someone out there, we only got 10 people. Trades means you can often apprentice, get paid while you learn, schooling is through public vocational schools. Check what a plumber makes, want to upgrade your home, who you gonna call? You build or help build a home, you get to stand there and see what you did. stay with carpentry, become finish carpenter/cabinet maker and your earning power goes up; get a reputation of quality work, you will be writing your own ticket. Yup, you get dirty, you make work off hours, but these are options to be considered

From Templeton Town Administrator.

Templeton, MA. - $1.00 per thousand = $710,733.00 /Tax Rate of $16.82

Override at .20 cents raises $145,700.00 while .25 cents raises $181,236.00

Below table shows costs of police officer while assuming the hire is at step 1, with a bachelor’s degree and progresses 1 step each year. Future collective bargaining agreements grow at 2% each year and beni’s (health insurance) is at family plan and cost increase of 6% per year. Pension is at FY2021 with rate growing 1-2 points per year. (That is a lot of assuming)

	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
Salary	$47,674.00	$ 52,146.00	$  54,780.00	$  57,563.00	$  60,480.00
Education	$  4,767.00	$    5,215.00	$    5,478.00	$    5,756.00	$    6,048.00
Shift Stipend	$  2,080.00	$    2,080.00	$    2,080.00	$    2,080.00	$    2,080.00
OT/HOL/Etc,	$11,918.00	$    7,822.00	$    8,217.00	$    8,634.00	$    9,072.00
Uniform	$  1,250.00	$    1,250.00	$    1,250.00	$    1.250.00	$    1,250.00
Beni’s	$20,250.00	$  21,465.00	$  22,753.00	$  24,118.00	$  25,565.00
M’care/UC	$  1,263.00	$    1,275.00	$    1,323.00	$    1,373.00	$    1,426.00
WRRS	$          0.00	$  15,122.00	$  16,434.00	$  17,845.00	$  19,354.00
Total	$89,203.00	$106,375.00	$112,314.00	$118,620.00	$125,276.00

Override dollars would go as follows for first year:

                                     .20 cents                                        .25 cents

Police officer -           $90,000.00                                 $100,000.00

Insurance & Beni’s -  $50,000.00                                 $  50,000.00

Highway -                           $0.00                                 $  15,000.00           

Snow & Ice -                  5,700.00                                 $  16,236.00

Total -                       $145,700.00                                 $181,236.00

Seems like they do things right over in Sterling, MA:

from Annual Town Report 2018 -Town Meeting.

ARTICLE 3. Set Salary of Municipal Light Board

MOTION MADE by Rich Lane that the Town vote to set the salary of the Sterling Municipal Light Board members as follows:

Chairman $1,500; Clerk $1,500; Third member $1,500; said sum to be an expense of the Sterling Municipal Light Department.

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY AS DECLARED BY THE MODERATOR

ARTICLE 15. Water Dept. Operation Enterprise Fund 

MOTION MADE by Bill Tuttle that the Town vote

to appropriate the sum of $912,586 from water department revenue, and further to appropriate $40,000 from 40 Water Enterprise Retained Earnings, for extraordinary or unforeseen expense as determined by the DPW Board and approved by the Finance Committee, for a total appropriation of $952,586 to operate the Water Department Enterprise Fund for Fiscal Year 2019 under the provisions of 

Chapter 44, Section 53F1/2,

Maybe Templeton needs to undue some special legislation and create a real DPW and have Water with Sewer?

Sterling, Ma Light Department - 2018 Annual Town Report.

Other community activities/contributions sanctioned by the SMLD Light Board:

 Our Annual Open House normally held the 3rd Thursday in April.

 Installed new LED holiday lights on the town common.

 Install pole, cable and lighting needed to power the Sterling Fair.

 Provide funds for annual inspection and maintenance for all town owned generators.

 Offer the round-up program to our customers to benefit the Sterling Neighbor-toNeighbor (N-2-N) Program. Since the program began in June 2014, your generous contributions have raised over $12,000 for the Neighbor-to-Neighbor Fund.

 Working with the Energy Committee the SMLD provided funding to complete the replacement of lighting with LED at the Fire Department, Senior Center and Police Department. The new lighting uses up to 67% less energy to operate.

 Installed a new generator and power cables at the Senior Center.

from the web site of Templeton, MA
Part-Time Police Officers & Dispatchers

Part-Time Police Officer: Successful candidates should hold, or be able to obtain certificate(s) in CPR/Basic First Aid, Firearms Class “A” License, valid Driver’s License, and a High school diploma or GED. Preference will be given to candidates with an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice or a related field holding required certifications.
Part-Time Public Safety Dispatchers: Successful candidates should have or be able to obtain, certification as a 9-1-1 Telecommunicator and Emergency Medical Dispatcher, and a High School diploma or GED. Preference will be given to candidates with knowledge of criminal justice and medical terms and who currently hold required certifications.
Submit application letter, resume, and standard Town application form available at www.templetonma.gov (click on Paid, Volunteer and Contract Opportunities)

or Town Hall to
Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator,
160 Patriots Rd, PO Box 620,
East Templeton, MA 01438.
The position(s) will be open until filled.
The Town of Templeton is an EOE. Posted:
Town Bulletin Boards (7) Town Hall 2, Light & Water, Police, Fire, Library, Public Works, Council on Aging, Sewer E-Mailed: Town Hall E-Mail List

Advertised: The Gardner News 2/14/2020

Web: Templetonma.gov, JobQuest

 Time for some trade offs? 

Phillipston gets the same dispatch service as Templeton residents get, except Phillipston residents have no insurance and benefit costs, no dispatch building expenses, no loan payments, no labor contracts; Templeton residents bear those costs and Phillipston gets that for less than 70 thousand per year. Hubbardston gets their accounting work done for 37, then 42 and then 45 thousand, with no insurance and benefits, while Templeton pays $127,470.00 just in salary for it's accounting work. (it was 90 thousand before agreement) Thank You to the selectmen / former selectmen who signed that agreement: Selectmen Brooks, Richards and former selectmen Caplis. Now, we need an override for a police officer, so the Templeton force can get back to the number of officers it once had, before you guessed it, budget cuts. It is not about just revenue, or how much Hubbardston is paying to Templeton, it is about what Templeton has to pay and what is being leftover in insurance & benefits and now being asked for an override; I do not require a fast talking explanation, as the numbers speak for themselves.

What Templeton is doing by way of it's financial management policy:

The Technical Assistance Bureau (TAB) of the Division of Local Service, recommends that communities understand the role free cash plays in sustaining a strong credit rating and encourages them to adopt policies on its use. Under sound financial policies, a community strives to generate free cash in an amount equal to three to five percent of its annual budget. This goal helps deter free cash from being depleted in any particular year, which enables the following year's calculation to begin with a positive balance. To do this, the community would orchestrate conservative revenue projections and departmental appropriations to produce excess income and departmental turn backs.

So perhaps, pad the appropriations a bit less and strive for 3% rather than 5%. If you consistently have 2 - 3 hundred thousand left over in one particular fund, perhaps pad that one a little bit less and pay for that police officer.

Town Administrator tells me, no no no, then your free cash goes and then, then ,then. So, what about the taxpayer, that you tell "we have to pad expenses so we can so this, this and this and then selectmen vote to spend more of your money so another town can get there accounting done for 37, 42 and then 45 thousand dollars per year and they get to spend less on insurance and benefits while you have to pay more. Just sayin.

What Templeton has not been doing:

Overall, TAB recommends that communities adopt a free cash policy that avoids supplementing current year departmental operations. By eliminating the expectation of additional resources later in the fiscal year to backfill budgets, department heads will produce more accurate and realistic annual appropriation requests.

Monthly expense reports that show appropriations versus what has been spent are available so departments can watch what they have spent. Perhaps do what TAB suggests and stop the backfill - if you think someone is always gonna fix your boo boos, no incentive for you to do otherwise.

A quick check of recent end of year financial for Templeton show:

Fiscal Year 2018 - Insurance & Benefits $320,948.00 left over

Fiscal Year 2019 - Insurance & Benefits $238,867.00 left over

What will Fiscal Year 2020 bring?