Finance Committee orders comprehensive inventory of Sudbury municipal fees

SUDBURY — November 6, 2023 — Sudbury Finance Committee orders fee inventory and previews a level-services FY25 budget. Town Manager Andy Sheehan told the committee Monday that Sudbury faces "no shortage of challenges," is understaffed relative to peer towns and should be spending $6 million to $7 million annually on capital but is "nowhere close." Member Henry P. Sorett pushed for data on every municipal fee back to 1979, arguing some charges may fail the legal test that fees be proportionate to service cost: "If we erect a bureaucratic barrier and charge a fee to climb over that barrier, then there's no value provided." Finance Director Dennis Keohane reported FY23 expenditures closed at 99 percent of budget, with vocational spending nearly 40 percent under budget and local receipts roughly 50 percent over. Budget-pressures hearings are set for Dec. 5 (SPS) and Dec. 18 (LSRHS); two school roof projects at roughly $2.5 million each loom for spring.