BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Earlier this year, the Rockingham Selectboard appointed a special committee in order to determine recommendations regarding the funding requests of nearly 20 local service agencies. A few of the agencies included the Visiting Nurse Association of New Hampshire and Vermont (VNA), the Bellows Falls Senior Center (BFSC), Senior Solutions, Parks Place, Greater Falls Justice Center, Springfield Supported Housing, Southeast Vermont Transit (MOOver), Vermont Adult Learning and Health Care, and Rehabilitative Services.
Consisting of local residents Deborah Wright, Jonathan Wright, and Gaetano Putignano, the three-person committee was given the task of reviewing the operations and asking questions about each agency’s mission statement, goals, services, and finances. Some of these agencies were permitted to submit additional information in regards to the questions that were asked. Deborah Wright was named the committee’s chairwoman.
“The selectboard requested our help in reviewing the requests, reviewing each organization’s documentation – including previous tax filings, P&L statement, and tax status – and making a recommendation to the selectboard as to the funding request,” committee member Jonathan Wright said in a recent interview.
“In total, we reviewed the 18 budget requests that the town received from local organizations, with 17 of those groups attending our open meetings to review mission statements, talk about the services they provide, and to answer questions we or the public may have had. The meetings each took about two hours, with more time being spent to draft our final recommendations to the selectboard.”
After careful consideration, it was announced at a recent selectboard meeting that the two largest agencies, the VNA and BFSC, would have their overall budgets reduced, while the other smaller agencies were approved with no drastic changes.
It was recommended by the committee to the selectboard that the budgets of both the BFSC and the VNA be trimmed down to $15,000. It was reported that the VNA was seeking funding of an estimated $26,000. It was also noted that the cuts were not caused by the VNA’s work or mission being fulfilled, but more an issue with the seemingly high salaries of the agency’s executives.
As for the recommendation of budget cuts to BFSC, who requested a budget of an estimated $23,000, it was more a case of the agency not providing adequate information about their budget request and overall operation. Currently, Rockingham pays for roughly 75% of the center’s budget, while Rockingham residents only make up roughly 50% of the center’s visitors.
Two local organizations that were awarded increases in their budgets were Parks Place of Bellows Falls, and Senior Solutions. Parks Place had requested a $1,000 increase from their current budget of $4,000, while Senior Solutions requested a $1,500 increase from the previous budget of $4,200.