An Independent-minded calendar of arts and events for Outer Cape Cod

Advertise in the Indie.

Reach more readers from Eastham to Provincetown.

Unchained news for Outer Cape Cod

The Provincetown Independent

Let us bring you the paper.

Your subscription supports real community journalism.

budget

    TOWN ELECTION

    Wellfleet Ballot Includes $3.8 Million for Water Main

    Special election Sept. 8 has 10 budget votes

    By

    WELLFLEET — A special town election taking place on Tuesday, Sept. 8 features 10 ballot questions, all involving budget overrides and exemptions from Proposition 2½ limits.

    Large purchases that involve borrowing or budget overrides must be approved both at town meeting and on an election ballot.

    The biggest item on the ballot, by far, is Question 1’s proposed $3.8 million expenditure for a new secondary, or redundancy, water main. The current redundancy piping system can pump about 40,000 gallons a day, which is adequate for the town. But the existing system would not be able to handle the addition of the proposed 46 affordable housing units at 95 Lawrence Road. If the town wants to be able to build these new units, it needs to approve a new secondary water main.

    Another large question in money terms is Question 10, which deals with a $150,000 renovation to Lieutenant Island Road. If it passes, the DPW plans to reconstruct and repave the road, which has “needed serious work for a few years,” Director Mark Vincent said. Vincent also plans to install stormwater structures to protect the road from storm surges. He hopes that state grants can cover much of the cost, reducing the project’s impact on taxpayers. There is no plan to raise or widen the road, which floods twice a day at high tide.

    Several of the other big-money items on the ballot come from the fire and police depts.

    The fire dept. is requesting two additional full-time firefighter-EMT-paramedic positions in Question 2, with a price tag of $148,000. The additions have been a long time coming, according to Fire Chief Rich Pauley.

    “We are a combination department of full-time people and on-call people,” he said. “We once had an on-call staff of 16. Now it is down to five. Since we have had such a decline, we need to supplement it with full-time positions.”

    This year will be the fourth year in a row that Pauley has requested additional emergency services staff.

    The fire dept. is also requesting two new vehicles. One is a replacement fire and rescue command car, in Question 4, coming in at $55,000. The current car is seven years old, and “is showing underbody corrosion and rust,” according to Pauley. It was supposed to be replaced last year, but the chief decided to defer the purchase for one year to save some money.

    A police cruiser also needs to be replaced for similar reasons of age and decay, which is the subject of Question 3. The new cruiser will cost $50,000.

    The other fire dept. vehicle, grouped under “New EMS Equipment for Fire and Rescue” on Question 6 of the ballot, is an all-terrain buggy similar to that used by the beach dept. for transporting shark bite victims. Pauley said he hopes to supplement the beach dept. buggy with his own, which the fire dept. can use in the woods, or during snowstorms, in the off-season. Other equipment under Question 6 includes bulletproof vests and helmets as part of a Cape-wide initiative to equip fire depts. to be able to perform in situations involving an active shooter, or other hostile environments.

    Replacement ambulance gear and IV pumps also fall under Question 6, totaling $80,000.

    A replacement pump for the fire dept.’s forestry vehicle is on the ballot in Question 5. The pump, which is the apparatus used to douse forest or brush fires, was “jury-rigged” onto the truck in 2007 when the vehicle was first purchased, Pauley said. The chief wants to replace the pump with a better fitting and more modern version.

    Another significant potential purchase on the ballot is in Question 9, which asks for $110,000 to install a sprinkler system at the Wellfleet Elementary School. When the state code first required the installation of sprinkler systems in new buildings, Wellfleet didn’t have a municipal water system, so the town got away without building one. “Someone made the decision to waive that requirement,” Pauley said. “That should not have been done.”

    The DPW is responsible for Questions 7 and 8, both concerning transfer station equipment.

    Question 7 asks for the $168,000 replacement of a 16-year-old backhoe. “It is showing its age, and we want to turn this curve right now,” said DPW Director Mark Vincent. The backhoe is used virtually every day at the transfer station, and is also used in the winter to clear snow off of town roads.

    The DPW also wants to extend a large canopy roof over a section of the transfer station and build a guard shack for staff to observe the recycling area, which both fall under Question 8, with a price tag of $55,000.

    The roof is to protect the station’s 100-yard trailers from rain and snow during the winter, Vincent said. The added protection will increase the trailers’ life span.

    The guard shack is another potential addition to the new expanded recycling center. It will allow a DPW staff member to observe and monitor the recycling center at all times, which is not currently possible.

    Polls open on Tuesday at noon at the Wellfleet Council on Aging. They will close at 7 p.m.

     

    CURRENTS

    This Week in Truro

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and find meetings on the lower right of the home page. Click on the agenda of the meeting you are interested in and follow directions within each agenda. To view meetings after they have occurred, go to the town home page, scroll down under News & Announcements, click on “Remote Meeting Information,” and follow directions.

    Thursday, May 21

    • Town Manager Screening Committee, 2 p.m.

    Tuesday, May 26

    • Select Board, 2 p.m.

    Thursday, May 28

    • Zoning Board of Appeals Cloverleaf Hearing, 5:30 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Covid-19 Update

    As of May 19, Truro had one active case of coronavirus and nine resolved cases.

    State Accused of Soft Language

    Select board member Bob Weinstein told state legislators at the Truro Select Board meeting on Tuesday that he was very disappointed that the language in the governor’s orders regarding several reopening guidelines was too soft and didn’t mandate necessary safety precautions. He said there wasn’t enough testing or contact tracing in the state.

    State Sen. Julian Cyr, a Truro native, agreed with Weinstein, saying, “There are some gaps in the reopening plan,” but there is more testing on the way. State Rep. Sarah Peake, of Provincetown, said there is “abundant testing capacity now.”

    Town Manager Rae Ann Palmer asked for signs to use at town beaches related to social distancing of 12 feet between beach blankets and other state guidelines.

    “Those are crucial, especially for Memorial Day,” said Cyr.

    Budget Cuts Looming

    Palmer and Town Accountant Trudi Brazil estimate that summer revenue will likely be down $500,000: from $2.2 million to $1.7 million. Beach and dump sticker fees, and meals and rooms tax collections are expected to be significantly lower than in 2020.

    Suggestions on how to cut the fiscal 2021 budget include a loss of $3,000 in the Truro 400 budget, and the removal of all library and road maintenance from the capital budget. A mobile generator and interview room for the police department could also be chopped, Palmer told the select board on May 5. —K.C. Myers

     

    currents

    This Week in Provincetown

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    Thursday, Feb. 6

    • Harbor Committee, 5 p.m., Town Hall
    • Other Post-Employment Benefits, 10:30 a.m., Town Hall
    • Recycling & Renewable Energy, 9 a.m., Town Hall
    • Shellfish Committee, 5 p.m. Town Hall
    • Year-Round Rental Housing Market, 6 p.m., Town Hall
    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall

    Friday, Feb. 7

    • Local Comprehensive Plan Committee, 10 a.m., Town Hall 

    Monday, Feb. 10

    • Community Preservation Committee, 1 p.m., Town Hall
    • Select Board, 7 p.m., Town Hall
    • Water & Sewer Board, 1 p.m., Town Hall

    Tuesday, Feb. 11

    • Public Landscape Committee, 2 p.m., Town Hall

    Conversation Starter

    State Aid Erases Deficit

    State aid came to the rescue to close Provincetown’s fiscal 2021 budget deficit.

    The $341,000 deficit was eliminated with $200,000 in state aid and other transfers and trims. The select board approved the $31,090,849 operating budget on Jan. 29, and it’s now headed to the finance committee for review. Voters will decide whether to approve the budget at town meeting on April 6.

    The most contentious piece of the budget, at least among select board members, was the $80,000 for the fire chief to hire an emergency medical services (E.M.S.) coordinator.

    The coordinator would handle paperwork necessary to comply with state rules and regulations for ambulance runs and rescue calls. This staffer would also be a paramedic, thereby filling two roles that the fire dept. needs, said Town Manager Robin Craver.

    But Louise Venden, of the select board, said she had a problem with the $80,000 ask. Lower Cape Ambulance, a nonprofit that handles 75 percent of Provincetown’s hospital runs, has the same paperwork done by one 24-hour-a-week staff person.

    Why then, would Provincetown need the same service for only 25 percent of the calls?

    Bobby Anthony, also a select board member, said if this position were approved, he’d want to make sure that the hiring was process “was open and fair.”

    If there is already a hand-picked candidate, “that’s not going to fly,” he added.

    Venden said she worries that Fire Chief Michael Trovato is using this position as the first step in creating a full-time ambulance service, which would radically change the current volunteer fire dept. system and do away with the regional Lower Cape Ambulance service now shared with Truro.

    Craver told the select board she will do an analysis of the fire dept. as soon as possible. But, she added, this position appears to be necessary no matter what the future holds.

    “I’m concerned that paperwork is done correctly and we meet quality standards,” she said.

    “Honestly I’m really surprised how you’ve managed. You have a great group of firefighters but so far I haven’t seen much administrative components.”

    “The final say as to whether we go to a full-time ambulance service is down to us,” said John Golden of the select board.

    Paying a paramedic who can complete paperwork is reasonable support for a volunteer organization, Golden added. —K.C. Myers

     

     

     

     

    CANNABIS

    Pots of Cash Expected After Curaleaf Opens

    It’s cash only at most such shops, raising safety concerns

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — When Curaleaf opens the first recreational marijuana store on Cape Cod at 170 Commercial St. — perhaps next Wednesday, Jan. 29 — it will be a cash-only business. Possibly a lot of cash.

    “Curaleaf cannot comment on revenue projections or the handling of cash revenue,” company spokesman Casey Sherman said this week.

    But the numbers from other cannabis stores already open in Massachusetts suggest that the Provincetown shop could be pulling in as much as $90,000 a day.

    Curaleaf, whose majority stakeholders are Russian oligarchs, is expected to receive its annual business license from the town on Jan. 28 and plans to hold a “soft opening” the following day, according to Assistant Town Manager David Gardner. A more formal opening will be in early February.

    The state requires all marijuana stores to have strict security plans because they deal in such large amounts of cash. Gardner would not discuss details of Curaleaf’s security plan.

    Elsewhere in the state pot revenues have been strong. New England Treatment Access (NETA), which opened the first recreational pot shop in the state in November 2018, produced $2.09 million in tax revenue for its host city of Northampton in 2019, according to the mayor’s office. Since Northampton’s cannabis tax and impact fee are six percent of gross sales (like Provincetown’s), that means NETA’s gross sales were $34.8 million in 2019 — or about $95,000 a day.

    The Northampton pot shop, however, was one of the first two in the state. And it is located in a college town on a major interstate highway — not in a small town at the tip of Cape Cod. Location matters. Cultivate Holdings in the Worcester suburb of Leicester opened the same day as NETA in Northampton. Leicester’s pot tax receipts for the first quarter of 2019 were $193,328.26, a town official told the Springfield Republican. For the same period, Northampton collected $737,331.40 from NETA’s sales.

    Closer to Cape Cod, Wareham collected $1.5 million in taxes from the Verilife store for its first full year of operation, said John Foster, Wareham’s finance director.

    “So that’s a good amount,” he said, noting that the town budget is $80 million.

    When it first opened, the Wareham store attracted so many shoppers that a shuttle bus had to transport people from off-site parking, he said. Now the shuttle is no longer necessary; people can find parking right on Main Street.

    “I don’t even notice it anymore,” Foster said.

    In Provincetown, Curaleaf predicted up to 250 customers a day, according to plans submitted to the planning board. Karen Nash, a Provincetown resident who has a host community agreement to open a dispensary here, said that’s got to be a low projection. The Cannabis Control Commission reported the average sale per person is about $40 statewide. That would come to at most $10,000 per day in gross sales.

    “A company as big as Curaleaf would never come to Provincetown” for that amount of sales, said Nash.

    Nash said her market research showed that 22 percent of Americans use marijuana. Based on that, she estimated that Provincetown would generate $30 million to $35 million in sales, enough to support six cannabis shops, she said. That’s a lot of money in a town where the entire lodging industry brings in $38 million a year, according to the tourism department.

    Follow the Money

    Whatever amount Provincetown generates in pot sales, it will all be cash. No credit or debit cards are accepted at most cannabis shops — although CanPay, a new debit app, is available at some. Most banks are reluctant to get into the weed business.

    Only three banks in Massachusetts currently work with cannabis companies — not enough to handle the 466 marijuana businesses awaiting licensing in Massachusetts, Cannabis Control Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman told the Republican in November.

    The GFA Federal Credit Union in Gardner accounts for about 50 percent of the business; the others are Century Bank of Medford and Baycoast Bank in Swansea, said Michael Fee, a Truro- and Boston-based attorney who represents the local High Dune Craft Cooperative. Curaleaf’s Casey Sherman declined to say which bank the company uses.

    Because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, bankers must contend with onerous federal statutes to prevent money laundering, Fee said. Violations entail stiff penalties.

    “It takes banks lots of time and it’s costly,” Fee said.

    The Mass. Cannabis Control Commission, American Bankers Association, and the marijuana industry are pushing to make it easier for banks to work with marijuana businesses. Some bankers cite security as the rationale.

    In July, Joanne Sherwood, chair of the Colorado Bankers Association, urged passage of the SAFE Banking Act in Senate testimony to make it easier for banks to handle marijuana money. (The bill has passed the U.S. House but is not likely to clear the Senate anytime soon, Fee said.)

    Sherwood said in Colorado, with limited access to banking services, “large amounts of cash remain onsite in many of the cannabis-related businesses, which creates significant safety concerns…. On average, more than 100 burglaries occur at cannabis businesses each year in Denver.”

    Tina Sbrega, CEO of GFA Credit Union, told the Worcester Business Journal in 2018 she was going to do business with marijuana companies out of concern for public safety. She said when Colorado first legalized cannabis, cash was stored in warehouses. Eventually, businesses even began to bury their cash.

    Since then, a lot of small banks in Colorado have gotten into the game, Fee said. They are more nimble and willing to take risks. They have figured out how to monitor their deposits to watch for money laundering, he added.

    Provincetown will soon see how all this plays out. Along with lots of cash, there may be a perennial line of customers snaking down Commercial Street.

    “They are the first to open on the Cape, but it is also February, so we don’t know what their crowds will be like,” Gardner said. “But we are prepared to react to large crowds if necessary.”

    Silence on Subpoenas 

    Back in October town administrators from all over the state were subpoenaed by U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, who wanted to see all their records related to host community agreements with marijuana businesses.

    Provincetown, Wellfleet, and Eastham town administrators all received subpoenas ordering them to produce documents, emails, and any other correspondence associated with the agreements. Months after complying with the order, the administrators still don’t know the reason for the court’s order, nor have they had received any follow-up information.

    “Not a peep,” said Jacqueline Beebe, Eastham town administrator.

    U.S. attorney spokeswoman Elizabeth McCarthy said Friday her office cannot comment.

    It’s widely believed that the subpoenas have to do with corruption investigations related to the Sept. 6 arrest of Jasiel F. Correia II, the mayor of Fall River, whom the U.S. Dept. of Justice has charged with “extorting marijuana vendors for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes,” according to the U.S. attorney. Lelling’s office alleges Correia, 27, accepted bribes from marijuana companies ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 in cash in exchange for host agreements.

    Correia’s trial is now scheduled for May 4, McCarthy said.

    Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, and Eastham select boards all have signed host community agreements. Truro, which was not subpoenaed, has a host agreement with the High Dune Craft Cooperative, a group of local farmers who wish to grow marijuana in Truro and Wellfleet. So far, only Curaleaf is fully licensed by the state on the Outer Cape. 

     

     

     

    ECONOMY

    Outer Cape Sees Boom in Rooms Tax Receipts

    First full quarter of ‘weekly tax’ brings in an extra $1 million

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — After a year of commotion and confusion, the expansion of the rooms occupancy tax to cover short-term rentals is beginning to produce its intended dividends. In the first full quarter for which the tax was in effect, that is, August, September, and October 2019, the tax added just under $1 million in revenue for the four Outer Cape towns.

    Rooms tax receipt tableYears of debate in town meetings and the state legislature preceded the change; the final version was signed by Gov. Charlie Baker on Dec. 31, 2018, and the bill took effect the next day: all rentals beginning after July 1, 2019 had to pay the state’s 5.7-percent rooms tax, as well as any local-option taxes that municipalities levied.

    Provincetown had long ago established a 6-percent local-option rooms tax, while Truro, Wellfleet, and Eastham all set the rate at 4 percent. In addition, Cape and Islands towns had a mandatory add-on of 2.75 percent for water pollution abatement.

    In addition to concerns about the effect of the hefty tax increase on visitors, there were logistical challenges: who would collect the tax, and on what schedule would it be paid to the state. Airbnb’s host forums show nearly an entire year of confusion for hosts in Massachusetts.

    The first full quarter for which the short-term rental tax was in effect was the second quarter of fiscal year 2020, which corresponds to rentals during August, September, and October 2019, said Tony Fuccillo, Provincetown’s tourism director.  (For clarity, this is referred to as Aug-Sept-Oct 2019 in the accompanying charts.) In those three months alone, the rooms tax payments to the towns went up half a million dollars in Provincetown; nearly $200,000 in Eastham; $167,000 in Wellfleet; and $121,000 in Truro. That’s just under a million in new tax money for the four towns for one quarter.
    The second quarter usually accounts for just under half of the year’s total rooms tax receipts. The May-June-July quarter accounts for most of the other half, with the other six months contributing 10 percent or less of the total in all four towns. If the weekly tax has a similar impact on the May-June-July quarter, Provincetown could be looking at a million dollars in new revenue from the tax in calendar year 2020. Eastham could see $400,000; Wellfleet, $300,000; and Truro, $250,000.

    Rooms tax receipts chartWellfleet, Truro, and Eastham all direct rooms tax revenue into their general funds, according to officials in the three towns. Eastham’s select board and administration have already decided to direct the new revenue into town reserves and future capital projects, according to Michael Lorenco, finance director and assistant town manager.

    Provincetown splits the revenue from the rooms tax four ways: 35 percent to the tourism fund, 27 percent to the general fund, 25 percent to the fund that supports long-term capital projects, and 13 percent to the sewer fund. The town manager’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year mentions options for the new revenue from weekly taxes. It’s possible to preserve the existing formula untouched, explained Assistant Town Manager David Gardner in an interview; it’s possible to adjust the formula so that each of the four funds gets some of the new money and some goes to a fifth or sixth priority, such as the Affordable Housing Trust or the Market-Rate Rental Trust. It’s also possible to adjust the formula so that all the new money goes to new priorities.

    “There is a general principle in town finance to try to have some kind of logical nexus between a given tax and the way that money is spent,” said Gardner. “Since weekly rentals do remove housing from the market, there is a certain logic to using weekly rental tax money to help address the housing situation.”

    Ultimately, the decision will go to the select board and to voters who instituted these taxes in the first place, Gardner said. “This is a discussion that everyone in town, including the select board and town meeting, is going to have to have,” he said.

    WAYS AND MEANS

    FY21 Eastham Budget Includes Town Staff Restructuring

    New positions include community development director and grants administrator

    By

    EASTHAM — Town Administrator Jacqueline Beebe presented the select board with a fiscal year 2021 budget totaling nearly $32 million on Jan. 6, representing an increase of 4 percent over the current year’s budget. But, she said, the spending increase will not require an override because total revenue for the next fiscal year is projected to be $33.3 million.

    The proposed budget for capital expenditures totals about $1.5 million, including one long-term debt exclusion of $500,000 to upgrade the police dept.’s radios and 911 dispatch equipment.

    The budget proposal includes a restructuring of town staff. Town Planner Paul Lagg is being promoted to the new position of community development director. Shana Brogan, whose title is now natural resources director and conservation agent, will move to administration and become grants administrator and special projects director.

    Beebe said that earlier in the year the town had placed the supervision of natural resources under the umbrella of the dept. of public works. Instead of a conservation agent Eastham will have an environmental planner who will work under the direction of DPW Director Silvio Genao.

    A new planner and economic development specialist will work under Lagg.

    The grants administrator job, Beebe said, was a result of the large increase in grants received over the last several years, from about $300,000 three years ago to nearly $1.5 million in the last year. The administrator will monitor the use and reporting requirements of the grants and will help manage capital projects.

    “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done so I really feel like we need some help,” Beebe said.

    The new positions will add roughly $65,000 to the operating budget, according to Beebe.

    In order to make these staff changes the town clerk’s administrative assistant was changed from a full-time to a part-time position. Longtime Town Clerk Sue Fischer retired in 2019 and Assistant Town Clerk Cindy Nicholson moved into Fischer’s job. Linda Sassi, who was the administrative assistant, became the assistant town clerk.

    The full-time natural resources generalist position has been vacant since August and has now been eliminated. With Brogan moving to administration the natural resources director position was eliminated, leaving natural resources duties to the DPW staff.

    Beebe also said that the natural resources clerk will become the community development clerk, and the part-time natural resources laborer will become a transfer station machine operator with an increase in salary but still part-time.

    The town also wants to create a full-time information technology generalist to replace the now part-time specialist position and hire a part-time animal inspector who will be shared with Wellfleet.

    Beebe said that for FY21 the town has developed two distinct operating budgets: a general operating budget and a water enterprise budget. The enterprise budget will cover all water operations but not the construction debt from the town water project, which will remain in the general operating budget.

    The anticipated water usage fees, estimated at $250,000, will be allocated to this enterprise budget. Any remaining amount, which for FY21 is estimated at $270,600, will be subsidized by the general operating budget.

    The water enterprise budget will be presented to the May town meeting as a separate article. It will no longer be part of the general operating budget, traditionally Article 12 on the warrant.

    “Each year taxpayers will understand how much of it is being subsidized by the general fund or if the water enterprise fund has actually started to make money and can pay back the general fund for the things that it uses out of our general fund budget,” Beebe said.

    Beebe said the town water project is on time and under budget. The system now serves more than 1,000 customers.

    Beebe said budgeting goals include completing a strategic and funded plan for capital needs, developing a plan for a new DPW building and a community center and Council on Aging center, and dedicating a portion of new revenue to a capital stabilization fund.

    “So that when we get these big-ticket items we don’t have to borrow or do debt exclusions in the future,” Beebe said of the stabilization fund.

    The finance committee will hold meetings to discuss the proposed FY21 budget through March. The budget will appear on the May town meeting warrant.

     

    currents

    This Week in Provincetown

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    Thursday, Jan. 16

    • Animal Welfare Committee, 12 noon, Council on Aging
    • Community Housing Council, 3 p.m., Town Hall
    • Harbor Committee, 5 p.m., Town Hall
    • Year-Round Market-Rate Rental Housing Board of Trustees, 6 p.m., Town Hall
    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall.

    Monday, Jan. 20

    • Town Hall closed, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

    Tuesday, Jan. 21

    • Recreation Commission, 5:30 p.m., Veterans Memorial Community Center
    • Select Board, 5:30 p.m., Town Hall

    Wednesday, Jan. 22

    • Harbor Committee, 5 p.m., Town Hall
    • Select Board, 5:30 p.m., Town Hall

    Conversation Starters

    Budget Time: Trash Is Big-Ticket Item

    Provincetown’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year is $341,000 in the red.
    While it’s still early in the budget process, Assistant Town Manager David Gardner warned the select board and new Town Manager Robin Craver that they will have tough decisions to make.

    The town’s operating budget grew by 5.6 percent, to $31,291,000, Gardner told the select board Tuesday. This exceeds the 2.5-percent growth rate allowed under Proposition 2 1/2, a state law designed to prevent large tax increases without voter approval.

    “This has been a challenging year from a budgeting standpoint,” Gardner said on Tuesday.

    The main budget busters are a 9-percent increase in debt service payments. Employee benefits, retirement, health insurance, and step salary increases for contracted employees are also up and that doesn’t even count union employees. Collective bargaining with three major unions is not settled, so “we have no idea what impact that will have on your budget yet,” Gardner said.

    The town is obligated to pay a $250,000 residential placement for a Provincetown Schools student who must attend a special needs school.

    Solid waste and recycling costs skyrocketed by $333,000.

    Trash costs increased from $59/ton to $110/ton and recycling went from $35/ton to $110/ton.

    “So that’s a major hit,” Gardner said.

    Other smaller increases include a $34,000 bump in public safety costs needed to handle the Provincetown 400 celebration. And due to added staffing at the pier, the harbormaster budget went up $106,000.

    The police department is proposing to hire two new patrol officers, which would cost $126,000 (benefits not included). This is related to security at the Provincetown Municipal Airport. Arthur “Butch” Lisenby, the airport manager, said currently there are not enough officers doing detail security at the airport.

    “We’ll certainly have to make a case to you tomorrow night when the chief is here that this is an appropriate expense,” Gardner told the select board.

    The fire chief wants to hire an EMS coordinator for $80,000. “The position is needed to comply with state rules,” Gardner said.

    At the same time, some new revenue is coming.

    Eversource is in the process of constructing a battery for backup power during electrical outages. The company will pay $45,000 a year to lease the town’s land. Private trash hauler fee hikes added about $35,000 and new parking spaces at the West End rotary will add about $100,000. Gardner expects marijuana tax revenue to bring in $53,000.

    Gardner told the select board that his staff cut $1,060,000 from the deficit “to what we hope is a more manageable figure.”

    Now it’s time for the select board to decide how much more to cut.

    Gardner recommended that the select board cover the deficit by transferring money from free cash and the tourism fund, though “that will delay some of the capital improvement projects,” he said.

    “We considered several options and none of them are good,” he said. “None of them are easy. If they were, we would have made them for you.”

    Other options include going to town meeting to ask for an override to pay for one of the big items, such as the $333,000 for trash disposal and recycling.

    “But that’s an unavoidable expense and so failure at town meeting would cause a budget crisis at that point,” he said.

    Gardner recommended taking $140,000 from the tourism fund. And as the select board has done in the last two years, it could reduce the amount placed in the retirement benefit fund, so-called OPEB.

    The select board will meet with department heads for the next week to try to cut the budget and then will vote when the review is over.

    To avoid continuing annual budget jumps Gardner had a few long-term ideas. The town could charge a fee for curbside trash pickup, which is now covered by taxes. A new fee could bring in $615,000.

    But the negative side of doing that this year is “no conversation about a new disposal fee,” Gardner said. “And obviously there would be negative public reaction instituting something like that on short notice.”
    The Land Bank surcharge ends this year, Gardner said. This 3-percent charge on the property tax bill has been used to buy open space. In future, Provincetown could petition the state legislature to dedicate the funds to retirement benefits or the OPEB fund.

    “I’m sorry we’re in this position but we keep chugging along and spending money,” said Bobby Anthony of the select board. —K.C. Myers

     

    © 2023 The Provincetown Independent, all rights reserved.

    terms of service