The Select Board on Tuesday began its review of the budget requests made by town departments for the upcoming fiscal year.

This meeting focused on requests made by the town’s Information Technology & Innovation Services, Land Use, Planning & Permitting, Health, Parks & Recreation, Human Resources and Youth & Family Services departments. The board also heard requests from the Hopkinton Public Library, the Town Clerk’s Office and the Board of Health.

All town departments previously were encouraged to keep their budgets lean and to provide level services. In several cases, board members acknowledged that some departments are accomplishing a lot with bare-bones resources.

Capital requests questioned

Josh Grossetti, the town’s IT director, said this year’s budget is “largely consistent” with the previous budget. While there were some “inflationary increases” for vendor and licensing fees, there was “careful spending and negotiated discounts in other areas” that led to a slight decrease from the previous year’s budget.

He added that a budget request for a staff increase was removed for the fourth consecutive year due to budget constraints.

Matthew Kizner questioned why a priority camera was included in the IT capital budget. Grossetti explained that the camera is part of an integrated town camera system. While the $13,200 request “doesn’t technically meet the $25,000 threshold” for capital expense requests, it is a one-time expense to upgrade several priority cameras. Historically, he said the request has exceeded $25,000 and was included in the capital budget “just in the name of transparency.”

Kizner, the former chair of the Capital Improvement Committee, took issue with this inclusion in the capital requests, saying that it is an operational expense. He continued to hammer home the point to other department heads during their presentations.

Added Kizner: “I’m really concerned with the approach that we have taken to get to the numbers tonight.”

Land Use director John Gelcich presented a budget with a 2.36% increase over the prior year. Most of that money will be used for salary increases. He requested a turbidity meter and a stadia rod that will be used for conservation-related purposes as pay-as-you-go expenses. Together, they cost $2,225.

Kyla LaPierre, the town’s chief financial officer, clarified that pay-as-you-go expenses are “one-time expenses that are not a part of operating expenses.”

Health, HR  trim budgets

Health Department director Shaun McAuliffe noted that the first draft of his budget slightly exceeded the Select Board’s request. It increased by 3.31% in response to what he called “draconian cuts” to the state’s Department of Public Health budget. His objective was to “meet the minimum regulatory and legislative directives set by the commonwealth.”

He noted that he was unsure if the department’s training, certification and licensing fees would be covered by “outside funding sources” in FY 27. But he learned from LaPierre that they would be, allowing the budget to increase by only 2.52%.

Last year, McAuliffe said he was able to raise $60,000 in grant money. He anticipated seeking outside funding this year.

“It’s amazing, actually, that in these days when federal funding and state funding is being challenged so much that you’re keeping up all the good work the same way and expanding in some,” said vice chair Shahidul Mannan.

Human Resources director Jessica Lewerenz told the board that personnel costs remained “primarily the same” due to staffing changes. She was able to reduce the budget by more than 11% from the previous year by reducing the contingency fund from $500,000 to $400,000.

Lewerenz noted that job applicants who used to come from the public sector now are coming from the private sector. Due to their experience levels, they require more money in salaries. Raises for current employees are based on merit.

Expenses rise for library, Parks & Rec

Library director Nanci Hill projected a 5.68% budget increase over last year’s budget. She explained that a part-time staff member decreased her hours. Those hours were given to the reference and library technician, making that role a full-time position.

Hill added that she decreased her substitute line item but requested funds for two permanent part-time positions. She said some substitutes were working on a regular basis, particularly on the weekends. Despite these additions, the personnel budget decreased by 15%

In contrast, the expenses shot up by 9.1%. Hill said the town is required by the state to spend 15% of its overall budget on materials.

Mannan said the increase in services and usage “is a good indicator of a town’s character and its intellectual metric.”

Parks & Recreation director Jon Lewitus requested $22,000 over the previous year’s budget. This amounts to a 7.5% increase. The money is going toward staffing, maintaining the parks and making surfacing and other repairs to the town’s playgrounds. A $30,000 request was made for a perimeter fence for Sandy Beach.

He said he eliminated the request of $15,000 for holiday lights. They were covered by donations over the past holiday season.

In response to requests for holiday lights, LaPierre said she is creating a “wish list.” State aid will determine what can be added to the budget.

Town Clerk Connor Degan presented two budget requests. For his office, he sought a “slight increase” in salary funding and money for equipment that would streamline public records requests.

Regarding elections, Degan is requesting $31,000 for an electronic voting system for Town Meetings. This would virtually cancel out the $10,000 spent for renting equipment for each meeting, he said. Board members appeared to be amenable to the proposals.

Youth & Family Services faces grant insecurity

Youth & Family Services director Dawn Alcott Miller explained that grant money from three grants that fueled her department over the past four years may be drying up.

“About half of out staff were funded by grants,” she said. “Well, this year it’s time to kind of pay the piper.”

Because of this, the department’s budget ballooned by 22.67%. But the operations budget went down 6.7%.

Said Alcott Miller: “I cut out everything we possibly could.”

This included drop-in hours at multiple locations, she noted.

The department has been providing meaningful services, she stressed, reaching 17,000 service enrollments. But she expressed concern about staff “running themselves into the ground.”

“This is a group that touches Hopkinton in a way that is very, very important to us,” stressed Brian Herr.