Natick Spring Annual Town Meeting opening night recap: Un-stabilization; A Happy Fuss over Foss; Override-infused budget

New Natick Town Moderator Jeff Alderson kicked off Spring Annual Town Meeting on April 29 by heading into the Wayback Machine, citing the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution as a way of providing historical perspective on the legislative tradition. “In our current practice of local participatory democracy, we maintain and renew a practice of self-governance,” he began, crediting the Natick Historical Society and Massachusetts Moderators Association for their help on the statement.

The statement also provided a smooth segue to swearing in newly elected Town Meeting members. As Alderson said, “By gathering together today, we honor and embrace the town meetings of 250 years ago…”

Thus began the pomp and circumstance portion of Town Meeting, leading into the discussion of articles on the warrant. For this night, that mainly meant the Omnibus Budget. Below is our summary of the proceedings, but see the Natick Pegasus recording if you want to watch the whole thing.)

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Stabilization funds

Speaking of the Revolutionary War… the first shot fired at this Town Meeting came from member Bruce Evans, also a Select Board member, before the session was 30 minutes old. Evans rose to oppose a motion by member Paul Griesmer to move a citizen petition on stabilization funds (Article 25) in front of Article 7, also on stabilization funds. Griesmer said it would make sense to discuss the related items together, but Evans took exception to this.

“The reason I don’t think the procedure is necessary at this time is this is an end run to try to circumvent a budget, and I will not support it,” Evans said.

This take was foreshadowed at a Select Board meeting earlier this month during which the Board voted for indefinite postponement of Article 25.

Town Meeting member Kathryn Coughlin, a Select Board colleague of Evans, rose to say there might be no point to moving 25 ahead of 7 because even if Town Meeting approved the motion under Article 25 it wouldn’t become effective until seven days later.

Former moderator and current Town Meeting member Frank Foss raised a point of order on this, arguing that Coughlin was making a substantive point, not a procedural one. Alderson agreed, explaining there was no procedural issue with moving 25 ahead of 7.

Griesmer then returned to the mic and said Article 25 is a “long-run financial planning or policy issue around what stabilization funds are for. It has nothing to do with the override, it has nothing to do with the omnibus budget, and it is not an end run around anything…”

Town Meeting voted 33-89-3, so the motion didn’t pass.

Making a bit of a Fuss over Foss

The introduction of Alderson as moderator marked the end of Frank Foss’s tenure in the post. Foss was recognized near the start of the night for his 18 years as moderator. Alderson had hoped to do so before Foss introduced himself through that earlier point of order, “kind of setting the tone for the rest of my tenure as moderator,” Alderson quipped to laughter.

The new moderator went on to read a citation for Foss on behalf of State Rep. David Linsky, who could not be there in person. Senate President Karen Spilka was on hand to read a citation from the Senate. Retired Town Clerk Diane Packer also read a resolution that included numerous accolades for Foss: “He was very instrumental in encouraging and implementing electronic voting; he started the annual new Town Meeting member orientation program; hosted a Pegasus show before every session of Town Meeting to inform the citizenry of the issues before the meeting; and he was absolutely critical in setting up the process and procedures that allowed and facilitated on-line Town Meeting during the pandemic…”

In sharing his thoughts, Foss recalled how people he spoke to before running for public office gave him similar advice that boiled down to: “If you’re going to run for office, there’s absolutely nothing in your town that you’re going to do yourself. You’re going to be doing it with a lot of other people with a lot of help…” Plus: Listen to all the voices before making decisions, he was told.

The Omnibus Budget

After whizzing through a couple of perfunctory articles, it was on to Article 3: The Omnibus Budget. This is the roughly $202 million in spending requested to run the town over the next fiscal year. Discussion of three motions under Article 3 took up the last hour-and-a-half of the first night’s session.

Town Meeting voted at the start of discussion on this article for an amendment having to do with using free cash to cover a revenue shortfall.

Then a series of speakers addressed portions of the budget related to their organizations or departments. This included the superintendents of Natick Public Schools and Keefe Regional Technical School (more than 60 Natick students attend Keefe Tech), as well as the town’s administration and finance team.

As Town Administrator Jamie Errickson stated at the start of presentations and discussion on the budget, the recent debate and ultimate vote for the $7M override shaped the omnibus budget put forth to Town Meeting. The budget, he said, “is a step toward addressing the town’s structural deficit” (i.e., expenses outpacing revenues) and preserves the town’s stabilization funds “to ensure the long-term health of the town,” especially in light of broader economic flux. What’s more, the budget supports the town and school’s ability to provide services “at exceptional value,” he said.

Errickson then handed the baton to Deputy Town Administrator & Director of Finance John Townsend, who gave a high-level overview of the budget. As noted, the bulk of revenue raised by the town comes from property taxes, with state aid and local receipts (motor vehicle and restaurant excise taxes, permits, etc.) making up most of the rest. This marks the first year since the pandemic in which the town does not have COVID relief funds from the feds to bolster its budget. As always, schools account for the biggest chunk of expenses, at $95M-plus; in addition, schools account for more than half of the roughly $59M in shared services (healthcare expenses, etc.).

Natick had prepped budgets ahead of the recent town election based on the override being approved or not. The “no override” budget would have included $6.5M in free cash to cover expenses—that would be a way higher amount of free cash used for operating costs than is typical or recommended (free cash is that money left over at the end of a fiscal year after actual expenses). As is, the $3.4M in free cash Natick budgeted for is a bit higher than preferred, Townsend said.

(Looking at Townsend’s presentation, you’ll see Omnibus Budget revenue and expenses at nearly $209 million apiece. These larger Omnibus Budget figures take into consideration $6.7M plus in “below the line items” that include some capital expenses and Other Post-Employment Benefits Trust Fund contributions.)

Natick Public Schools Supt. Dr. Melissa Spash went over the $95M-plus school budget request, up 10% from the previous year. If any of what Spash said sounded familiar, that might be because the school team has held 19 public meetings related to the budget this year.

The drivers behind the increase, she said, were renegotiated contracts with staff (accounting for about half of the budget increase), plus rising mandatory special education tuition costs and transportation costs. It also includes the replacement of one-time funds used in FY25. Spash reminded Town Meeting about $2M in cost reductions made by the schools over the past two years, including cuts of ten full-time equivalent positions for the coming fiscal year.

“In summary, this is a stabilization budget, not an expansion budget…,” she said. “We balance unavoidable increases with strategic cuts, and we honor commitments to both our staff and community.”

Following Spash’s presentation, the moderator opened the floor to questions and comments.

Town Meeting member David Coffey asked clarifying questions about upcoming water/sewer charge increases and Chapter 70 education funding, and after having those addressed, commented that “my biggest regret, in debate, is that we’re not allowed the opportunity to deep dive into each department’s budget individually. Rather, we’re given a $200 million lump sum budget and we’re told, ‘take it or leave it’…” (A similar sentiment was shared recently at Wellesley’s Annual Town Meeting, where a member proposed splitting out the school budget…that motion failed.)

Town Meeting member Griesmer sought clarification on the town’s efforts to collect back taxes, which he said could net Natick around $15 million. “It’s good that we’re getting after it,” he said.

Dr. Spash was asked about how the Natick Public Schools system uses comparative data for other districts in coming up with its compensation offerings. Town Meeting member Dan Sullivan urged NPS and the School Committee to focus on comparing itself not to districts across the state, but rather those bordering Natick and those bordering those communities. He said the regional data he’s looked at shows Natick toward the bottom of compensation rankings in recent years. “We put a lot of pride in our school system and we want to have the very best educators. When someone is looking for a region to come to, it would be my hope that Natick would be a desirable community from a compensation perspective,” he said.

Splash also answered a question about how the budget matches up with the number of students. She said enrollment is roughly flat, but that the number of students with disabilities and the number of English language learners are going up (as is true across the state). Those students require different approaches to teaching, such as in smaller groups, and that leads to higher costs.

The discussion and debate was relatively brief, and Town Meeting approved Motion A for the budget appropriation by a count of 116-7.

Motion B under Article 3 covered a $22M-plus budget for town enterprise funds for water/sewer and the Sassamon Trace Golf Course. Motion B was approved by a vote of 117-2. Motion C also had to do with a Golf Course appropriation, and it passed easily.

Up next, on Thursday, May 1, Town Meeting tackles warrant Articles 15, 5 through 14, and 16 through 25, as time allows. Article 15 involves appropriation of Community Preservation Act (CPA) administrative funds.

Before Thursday night’s over, Town Meeting will return to the subject of stabilization funds that briefly earned the floor’s attention on opening night.

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• Natick Spring Annual Town Meeting opening night recap: Un-stabilization; A Happy Fuss over Foss; Override-infused budget
• Natick Spring Annual Town Meeting night #2 recap: Unpaid bills; Stabilization; Capital spending
• Natick Spring Annual Town Meeting night #3: Zoning articles on floodplain maps, body art, ADUs & indoor rec