by Joe Ready

A citizens’ petition submitted by Town Representative Paul Rigazzio to redirect free cash to fund the $1.8 million feasibility study for the Parker Middle School was defeated on Monday evening by a vote of 93 against to 28 in favor, with one abstention. The feasibility study, which was approved during the Spring Town Meeting of 2024, allowed the town to bond the debt. Rigazzio, an accomplished CPA by trade, presented and argued that the town should not take on additional bonded debt when it has available funds.

The Town of Chelmsford concluded Fiscal Year 2024 with $4.7 million in free cash, an increase of $1.87 million from the prior year. “The Town received a one-time $1.1 million building permit payment for development that’s under construction on Princeton Street, a former UMass Lowell project,” said Town Finance Director John Sousa.

Several subsequent articles dealing with roads, sidewalks, infrastructure, capital improvements, and other initiatives were designated as warrant articles to allocate all the free cash for the year. A successful vote in favor would have impacted the funding of those remaining articles.

Concerned that he hadn’t seen an amended proposal for the allocation of free cash for the later articles, Town Meeting Representative William Wagner (Precinct 3) questioned, “If we take the $1.8 million in free cash, what happens to the proposals that are already in our packets of free cash? We’ve already allocated how we intend to spend it, but no one has proposed a different allocation?”

Town Manager Paul Cohen explained that out of courtesy for Mr. Rigazzio and Chelmsford’s citizen form of government, he placed the article first to allow Town Meeting representatives to decide. Manager Cohen stated, “I thought the appropriate thing to do to honor and support citizen government, encourage petitions, encourage initiatives, and suggestions” was to place Article 6 first. If the article had passed, Manager Cohen said, “I would reduce the road funding from $2.5 million down to $700,000.”

Having had experience bonding a similar study in 2004 for a project that never came to fruition, Clare Jeannotte, Precinct 4 Representative, defended petitioner Rigazzio’s approach by emphasizing, “Mr. Rigazzio raises a fair question about bonding something that may remain on the debt schedule for 20 or 30 years and may not result in a project. You try to match your borrowings to the life of the asset you’re funding.” Doreen Deshler, Precinct 9, advocated for “fiscal responsibility.” In addition, Precinct 9 Representative Brian Latina supported the article by suggesting the use of “found money” to pay for the feasibility study instead of borrowing.

The article sparked a meaningful debate on how and when the town borrows debt. In defense of the town’s approach, Glenn Thoren, Precinct 7, stated, “This town has done an extraordinary job at managing future debt.” Thoren believed that the town manager’s proposed approach to spending the free cash was appropriate, further explaining, “If we want to keep a AAA bond rating, taking the money that we might put into the stabilization fund and putting it someplace else is, to me, a really bad idea.”

Precinct 11 Representative Badhri Uppiliappan questioned whether the town had conducted a model analysis of the bond’s interest rate. He suggested that representatives vote positively for the article after Town Finance Director John Sousa confirmed that no such model had been created.

Precinct 11 Representative Courtney Cooper raised a counterpoint, stating, “We may be saving the interest, but you can’t compare apples to apples. We can take away that $2.2 million for roadways and save the money, but when we go to do that road, it could cost us $3.5 million due to inflation and construction costs.”

A technical question was posed by Precinct 11 Representative Eric Hanson: “Does free cash need to be spent by the end of this fiscal year?” Town Manager Cohen responded that no, the free cash would carry over into the next fiscal year, but the customary practice has been to place any unused money into the stabilization fund. While both free cash and the stabilization fund can be used for any lawful purpose, free cash only requires a majority vote, whereas the stabilization fund requires a two-thirds vote.

Advocating for the use of free cash for invasive plant species management, Precinct 6 Representative Joanne Anderson asked, “If we vote for this, we obviously have to take it from somewhere else. How is the decision made to take the whole allocation from roadway and sidewalk construction?” Town Manager Cohen stated that Town Meeting makes the decision, but he provides recommendations on spending and warrant articles that are reviewed by the Select Board and Finance Committee.

DPW Director Christine Clancy, who is responsible for 190 miles of roadway, 1.2 million square feet of building space, 28 buildings, and 80 acres of grounds and fields, presented several of the free cash articles afterward, which all passed overwhelmingly at Town Meeting.

Town Meeting continued Thursday night, with consideration of a $25 million Fire Station Construction Project, which will be contingent upon the town voters approving a Proposition 2.5% override.