$78 Million Town Budget Approved at Town Meeting

With very little discussion, residents at the Mansfield annual town meeting approved the budget for fiscal year 2014 beginning on July 1.

The costs, which includes both the municipal and school budget, comes in at a little over $78 million. while

The budget was balanced this year in part to the use of $1.5 million in free cash. It is projected that the use of free cash to plug budget holes will go down over the next five years with a goal to use close to none by fiscal year 2018

No jobs were lost in the new budget and a few positions were added including a human resources director. With 800 town employees, town manager Bill Ross has said in the past that he believes Mansfield was one of the few towns of similar size in the area without a dedicated HR person.

“We felt we needed a new human resources director. That was very high priority,” said Ross.

On the school side, a few teaching positions were added and several repairs are expected to be done within the school district.

Repairs approved include $50,000 for the high school stage vent, $50,000 to repair the Qualters Middle School stage vent, and $270,000 for the high school gym floor.

$27,335.53 was also put aside to repair and replace the windows at the Robinson School.

Both the municipal and school budgets were a result of a desire to work together by Town Manager Bill Ross, Superintendent Brenda Hodges, and the finance committee. The three groups were able to collaborate on the budget and come up with a solution that answered the needs of the towns and the schools with out the heated battles of the past.

Ross said the parties would continue to work together in the future to address the service needs of Mansfield.