East Bridgewater Grapples with Financial Challenges, Explores Solutions
Town officials seek to maintain services amid pension obligations, budget constraints
EAST BRIDGEWATER - January 6 - East Bridgewater officials are exploring options to address financial challenges, including using reserves and seeking additional state aid, as the town faces increased pension obligations and budget constraints.
During a Jan. 6 Select Board meeting, town officials discussed the financial difficulties and potential solutions to maintain service levels without resorting to layoffs or overrides.
Charlie Seelig, Town Administrator, outlined the town's plan for the next few years. "We have a plan in place for the next few years, for those six lean years, that we will draw down on our reserves just to keep things, one hopes, our service levels at the same level," Seelig said.
The town is looking at a deficit even for the operating budget, despite using reserves. Departments have been asked to lower their budgets by about 1% from last year's levels.
"And the only way we ended up doing it was to use our reserves, which is not sound business practice, but there was a choice between that and, in fact, doing layoffs, … It won't help our bond rating or anything like that, but maybe we can get through this." Seelig explained.
The financial strain is partly due to increased pension obligations. Padraic Lydon, Executive Director of the Plymouth County Retirement Board, explained that the Plymouth County Retirement Association aims to be fully funded by 2031.
"We moved it out to 2031 because our regulators, PERAC, and our annuity people basically required it," Lydon said. "And they believed that the new mortality table that we were required to use was more accurate. But also using that new mortality table, it increased our unfunded liability a lot."
Lydon emphasized that East Bridgewater's situation is not unique. "I can't tell you it's not East Bridgewater's fault, but it's really not East Bridgewater's fault. This is countywide, statewide, citywide, everything. Every system is facing, I believe, the same challenge of, you know, trying to be fully funded without kicking the can down the road," he said.
The average increase for all Plymouth County Retirement Associates units is about 7.5%, with East Bridgewater's increase aligning with this average.
Town officials are also looking to the state for potential relief. State Representative Alyson Sullivan-Almeida discussed the possibility of additional funding from gambling revenue.
"We haven't got any clarifying information from the administration yet as far as how much or when that money would be distributed," Sullivan-Almeida said. She estimated that about $58 million from gambling revenue could be distributed to cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
The town is also considering other options, such as grants and earmarks. Sullivan-Almeida mentioned working closely with Melanie Dean, the Town Accountant, to identify potential funding opportunities.
"We work very closely with Melanie as well in keeping an eye on grants and bonds that come out that might be beneficial to the town," Sullivan-Almeida said.
Despite the challenges, town officials are committed to maintaining services and avoiding layoffs. Seelig noted that the town did not use its ARPA money for operations, which has helped avoid some of the difficulties other communities are facing.
"Thankfully, we did not use our ARPA money, for the most part, for operations. It was mostly for capital, so we're not seeing the situation other communities might have where they were using that for operations, and then suddenly, okay, the money's gone," Seelig said.