WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee on Wednesday sent the voters a budget that reduces the fire district's spending by nearly $10,000.

 

The town will have a chance to approve the district's fiscal 2018 spending plan at the annual Fire District meeting on May 30 — two weeks after the annual town meeting.

 

The district, a separate taxing authority apart from the rest of town government, plans to ask the voters for an operating budget of $549,197, down from $558,915 in FY17, a change of about 1.7 percent.

 

Most of the decrease stems from anticipated savings from the town's solar project on the capped landfill off Simonds Road.

 

"We're keeping essentially a flat budget but, we're going to see some savings from the solar," Clerk/Treasurer Corydon Thurston told the committee. "We're going to fund everything we have this year plus a little more, and the tax rate won't go up as a result of the fire department's efforts."

 

The Fire District's appropriation is incorporated into local property tax bills.

 

It is the second year in a row that the Williamstown Fire District budget has decreased. The current fiscal year's appropriation was down 4.4 percent from FY16.

 

In FY18, the district expects to spend about 16 percent less on street lighting because of the solar project.

 

The fire district is responsible for street lights because, historically, street lights were gas lamps. These days, the district writes a check to the electric utility for the service.

 

This year, the district had budgeted $95,300 for the lights — a figure that has not changed significantly the last few years. But for next year, it has budgeted $80,000, a drop of just more than 16 percent.

 

"I'm pretty comfortable saying we'll see the tax credits/energy credits available at some point next year," Thurston said.

 

On Thursday morning, Town Manager Jason Hoch said the town did not know when solar panels will be connected with National Grid.

 

"I expect they'll come online sometime in FY18, but it isn't clear when," Hoch wrote in an email.

 

The other significant drop in the Fire District's FY18 budget is on the line item for the pay of the town's call-volunteer firefighters, who are compensated on a per-call basis. In recent years, the district has overbudgeted that line, and Thurston is attempting to bring it down to the actual spending level.

 

It has been reduced by 3.5 percent and 3.6 percent in FY16 and FY17, respectively. For FY18, it is budgeted at a 6.6 percent reduction, from $53,000 to $49,500.

 

"It's only appropriate that we try to bring that closer in line with reality," Thurston said at Wednesday's special meeting to approve the budget. "The optics of overbudgeting consistently is not something I want to put my name on."

 

Prudential Committee Chairman John Notsley noted that in the event of a major bump in the expenditure for firefighters — i.e., if there is a major fire or two — the district has a reserve fund available.

 

This year, the district is projecting a $22,080 surplus on the pay of firefighters' line.

 

In total, the district is anticipating a total budget surplus of at least $25,000, and on Wednesday it discussed how that might be spent.

 

The Prudential Committee authorized Chief Craig Pedercini to acquire ice and water rescue suits at a cost of about $3,250 with a plan to add to the department's supply of the equipment down the road in another fiscal year.

 

"I do think we should have some equipment here for water rescue," Notsley said. "Hopefully, we never have to use it, but I think it's something we should have available. We don't have a lot of water, but we have the Green River, the Hoosic and Bridges Pond."

 

Pedercini also got the green light to buy some new valves at a cost of about $3,000, making for an additional $6,250 out of the FY17 budget.

 

The committee considered investing in an F-250 utility truck that the department could use to transport equipment when it does not need to send one of its fire trucks out to do the job, but it ruled against the idea because the new truck would barely fit into the already cramped fire house.

 

"A lot of times, you get a call for an auto fire on Spring Street, and you don't need to bring one of those buses here to it," Prudential Committee member Ed Briggs said in a response to a question from the floor. "There are advantages to having [a utility truck], but you can't leave it in the back yard."

 

In addition to saving property owners on their town tax bill, the district also saved homeowners recently when the department's Insurance Service Office rating moved from 5 to 4 on a 10-point scale (1 being the best).

 

The Fire District's annual meeting begins at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30, with the election and continues at 8 p.m. with a meeting to approve the spending articles. Notsley is standing for re-election to the one seat on the committee on this year's ballot.