WELLFLEET — Town meeting on June 26 was costly and long, but voters approved the town budget and the purchases requested by officials during the six-and-half-hour session on the elementary school ballfield.
Voters elected to spend a total of $28.2 million, an increase of about 13 percent from the previous fiscal year, according to Interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner. For a house valued at $551,000, the current median assessment, the property tax increase will be about $534 a year. But this total is contingent on all 11 debt exclusions and overrides passing at the town election, which was held on June 30, after the Independent’s deadline.
These figures were not accurately printed in the town meeting warrant, however. The warrant showed a 24-percent increase. But, Sumner explained, that was a misprint resulting from the fact that Wellfleet’s former town accountant and town administrator resigned suddenly in April. The budget and town meeting warrant had to be written by Fire Chief Rich Pauley and Harry Terkanian, a former town administrator who volunteered to put the document together in record time and without the help of an accountant.
Recognizing the uncertainties in the budget as of June 24, the finance committee refused to make a recommendation on it.
“We don’t know what we are voting on,” Fred Magee, the finance committee chair, told the group on June 24.
The town is still embroiled in a financial crisis that Sumner and two part-time accountants are trying to rectify.
But the 266 citizens, out of 3,018 registered voters, who attended town meeting did not ask many questions about the budget increase or the accounting problems.
Mike DeVasto, the select board chair, said the town has had four accountants and four town administrators since 2019, and so it will take time for the team now in place to resolve accounting errors going back two years. He said the many items on the warrant authorizing purchases totaling about $4.2 million, according to Sumner, were important. Many reflected delayed purchases due to Covid-19 last year.
“We have kicked the can down the road,” DeVasto said.
Voters supported all of the requests, including $168,000 to hire two new full-time firefighters. The fire dept. has lost all but four on-call firefighters, and the chief is trying to increase his full-time staff so that four firefighters will be available for every shift.
Voters also agreed to spend $290,000 for the marine dept. to replace an emergency response boat, which will be made of aluminum and fitted with the latest electronics and capabilities to pull people safely from the water or the beach. The current rescue boat was built in 1994. Harbormaster Will Sullivan said Bay Sails Marine technicians have advised that it is not worth putting any more money into. The U.S. Coast Guard is 45 minutes away. Two voters told stories of having to wait in the water for a private rescue that took three hours because Wellfleet’s rescue boat did not have the capacity.
Voters approved $35,000 to replace the ballfield backstop, which was “dilapidated since I was a teenager,” said DeVasto.
The most debated expense was $138,000 for the design of road improvements at the Route 6 and Main Street intersection. Opponent Dale Donovan said the plans won’t suit Wellfleet’s needs. They include painted bike lanes on both sides of the road and a 10-foot walking and biking path by Cumberland Farms and PJ’s restaurant.
The design is only 25 percent complete, and townspeople will have input into what they do not like about it, countered Terkanian. The state has already backed away from building a rotary there, due to local opposition.
Ryan Curley of the select board said the Cape Cod Commission counted 20 accidents at that intersection in 2020, an increase from 11 in 2011. Improvements are necessary and the town’s investment ensures the town has a say in the project, he added.
To fund affordable housing programs, voters agreed to increase the short-term rental tax from 4 to 6 percent. The new tax revenue, however, has yet to be dedicated to affordable housing.
