Barre Finance Committee Recommends Town Meeting Warrant, Raises Snow Deficit Limit

BARRE -- May 24, 2019, Barre Finance Committee approves favorable recommendations on all Town Meeting warrant articles and raises the snow and ice deficit limit by $15,000. Meeting May 24 ahead of the June 18 annual Town Meeting, the committee also reviewed a restructured FY2020 budget that consolidates Board of Health and building inspection clerk costs into a single local inspection services line and recalculates Hardwick's Council on Aging contribution at roughly $17,200 under a new proportional cost-sharing formula. The ambulance enterprise fund is projected to fall approximately $100,000 short of self-sufficiency, with anticipated revenue of about $410,000 against a $523,000 budget, a gap the committee attributed to the disparity between MassHealth reimbursement rates of roughly $500 per transport and private insurance payments of around $2,100. Certified free cash stands at $443,000, with the committee targeting $250,000 to eventually replace an ambulance with cash rather than debt.