ADAMS, Mass. — Town officials started the review of the $19 million fiscal 2025 spending plan on Tuesday, beginning with general government, executive, finance and technology budgets. 

 

The proposed budget totals $18,830,525, up 3.49 percent, or $634,334, over this year.

 

The joint meeting of the Selectmen and Finance Committee took place in the Adams Free Library annex. The next three meetings all will be held at 6 in the annex: 

Personnel costs are up 8 percent, in part because of wage adjustments and a 7 percent increase in health insurance costs, or $175,000. It also includes funding for the Greylock Glen director and a superintendent, a new laborer, and a full-time administrative assistant. 

 

Personnel costs cover 18 paid elected positions, 18 appointed and nonunion positions, 47 full-time positions and two part-time union positions.

 

The proposed operating budget is $9,845,854, up $286,172, or 2.95 percent, and includes expenses for utilities, repairs, maintenance, supplies, services and programming, and a significant investment in technology.

 

Town Administrator Jay Green cautioned the officials that they would see some considerable jumps in certain line items that were not increases but rather the combination of lines previously scattered throughout departments. 

 

This includes a line item for legal services in the executive budget of $60,600, up 506 percent.

 

"We took additional money that was already in town administrator's budget last year and we took legal services money that was in the Community Development Department budget and we took all the legal services money out of the budget that we could and combined it into that line item," he said. "So legal services that $60,600 is not a new number. That number is now just combined."

 

The consolidation of legal services is to prepare for a new town counsel as the town's longtime attorney Edmund St. John III announced his retirement earlier this year. 

 

Green said using legal services on a per-hour basis "adds up pretty quickly" so he is seeking a law firm that the town could take on partial retainer.

 

"That way there everybody who may need legal services can call up the firm and not have to worry about the proverbial hourly meter running," he said. "I've done quite a bit of research so far into formal proposals for services in the town and just doing some background checks on them."

 

Anything over the retainer would kick in a per-hour amount but he felt the amount budgeted would be sufficient. 

 

Not included is the legal services is the cost of an attorney for the treasurer/tax collector's office. Town Treasurer Kelly F. Rice increased her legal services budget by $5,000, up to $20,000, because the tax attorney the town has been working with upped his hourly rate for the first time in at least a decade. 

 

Rice said Land Court is putting more work on the tax attorneys and it's costing more for the town to go through the court. Officials asked if the town was looking into someone who could do it for less; Rice responded yes, but noted their attorney was very experienced.  

 

"He's also been doing it for 25, I think it's been 25 years, and we work well together. He knows the town. He knows everything about the town," she said. "Yes, he has gone up just like everybody else. But he also has to do a lot more work now with the legal fees and everything to go to Land Court."

 

Green acknowledged he is looking into options but noted that while large firms could do the work cheaper, there was the matter of turnaround time and quality of service. "You tend to get what you pay for," he said. 

 

The town is switching to a higher level of information technology management by contracting with Entre Technology, based in Springfield. The cost is about $12,000 a year more than the town was already expending and provides 24/7 coverage, backups and antivirus protection, cloud computing, software management and consultation, a daily helpdesk and monthly on-site visits. 

 

Adams was using a different IT provider and a part-time IT consultant but Financial Director Crystal Wojcik said the town's needs were growing beyond what one person could handle. 

 

"He did great. He did wonderful things for the town, and he worked to the best of his ability," she said. "We needed a bigger department, a bigger team ... we're facing some pretty big upgrades."

 

Entre had cold-called Green and their presentation had impressed the finance team. Entre is on the state's bid list and is an IT provider in the education, health, finance and municipal governement field. Green said it is the IT provider for the State Police. 

 

"They have been fantastic to work with. They helped us upgrade to Office 365. They helped me through my accounting system upgrade," said Wojcik. "They made some changes to our security backup systems required by our liability insurance for cybersecurity insurance. So they're bringing us forward with some advanced technology."

 

The contract with Entre is on a monthly basis of $6,000 but figure may be less depending on how often the town needs its help. The technology budget is $193,000 and includes new software, renewals and eight cell phones for department heads. 

 

All the departments are seeing higher costs for training and education, supplies and postage. 

 

The town assessor's budget includes reinstating a full-time position at a higher grade to replace two part-time positions vacated through resignation and retirement. Assessor Paula Wheeler said it was easier to find quality candidates for full-time positions than part-time.  

 

The person hired last year for a shared human resources post with North Adams and Williamstown has left; those duties will be apportioned to the executive and finance offices. Green felt the post had been ineffective and difficult for any one person to do for three large communities. Green said there is a line for legal which could be used for an HR consultant if needed. 

 

The town clerk's budget is up to cover three elections this year: town elections, state primary and state general election. 

 

Town Clerk Haley Meczywor said some of those costs are the maintenance of the town's voting machines and the requirement to mail ballots to everyone who requested one. The state pays for them to come back to the town clerk's office. 

 

Also up is employee and retiree benefits by $92,678, or 5.67 percent, and an increase in seasonal hourly rates from $15 to $18 an hour at a cost of $12,480.