Selectmen face tough choices on FY18 capital spending

By Mike Berger

Selectmen will have some tough choices to make in the coming weeks as they attempt to whittle down more than $4 million in capital spending requests to fit within the FY18 budget target of $1.34 million.

At their meeting on Tuesday night, selectmen heard presentations from department heads and will wait for recommendations from Town Administrator Charlie Aspinwall and Finance Director Jim Murgia before making their final decision.

The hardest decisions will be on the long-term debt side, which has a budget target of $643,000. Selectmen have received $3.2 million in requests, including $1.3 million for parking and redesign of Pequitside Farm; $745,000 for a fire engine replacement; $181,000 for firefighter breathing apparatus; and over $1 million in equipment purchases for the DPW.

On the cash capital side, the requests are currently $384,000 over the budget target of $700,000. Among the requests are $8,000 for new office workstations for the town clerk’s office, which is using desk donations from over 30 years ago; $41,000 for electronic vote tabulators; over $300,000 for computers and other technology upgrades; and $146,000 for four police cruisers, bullet-resistant vests, and six tasers.

Police Chief Ken Berkowitz had also put body cameras on the cash capital plan; however, he did not submit a figure as he told selectmen that he will wait until all the procedures and issues are worked out in other police departments before considering their use in Canton. He estimates that 45 body cameras will cost somewhere north of $300,000. Selectman Victor Del Vecchio asked Berkowitz to make a public presentation explaining the pros and cons of using the cameras …

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