Snow Budget Deficit To Be Zeroed Out

Melrose's snow budget deficit would be eliminated by using up all the money in the city's free cash account, under an order recommended by two of the Board of Aldermen's committees over the past week.

The order would transfer the total funds available in the city's free cash account — $364,607 — to various items in the red in the Melrose Department of Public Works' snow budget, Patrick Dello Russo, city auditor and chief financial officer, told the aldermen's Finance Committee on Monday night.

Another forthcoming order that has yet to come before the aldermen would  transfer $59,000 from the city's Human Resources Department's claims line item to the snow budget and eliminate the deficit, Dello Russo said.

"The good news here is that in the event both of these orders, you will have no snow and ice deficit going into FY11," he said. "Funds were expended in a deficit position so we could meet the needs of the community. That's why we're here — now it's our turn to pay that up."

Cities and towns are allowed by the state to underfund snow budgets because of the unpredictability of each year's snowfall, but must eliminate those deficits at the start of each fiscal year.

The order was unanimously recommended by both the Public Works Committee on Thursday, June 10 and the Finance Committee on Monday night. It will now go before the full board on Monday.