IPSWICH –The SelectBoard voted last week to accept $390,000 from the federal Emergency Management Administration that will be used to hire two additional firefighters for the 19-person fire department for three years.
But it was unclear if the town might have to return the grant and lay off the new firefighters if it runs low on money. Accepting the grant requires the town to pay 25 percent of the firefighters’ costs for the first three years and 100 percent in the fourth year, which the town may not have.
That is how dire the town’s finances are. Town Manager Brendan Sweeny estimated Ipswich faces a possible $1.2 million deficit in a proposed $28 million budget.
“FY ’28 will be a very difficult conversation,” said Board Chair Michael Doughterty. He said the town in recent years has not made a lot of progress “chipping away” at balancing town revenues and expenses.
But Doughterty said Ipswich is in relatively better shape than neighboring cities and towns.
While Sweeny did not downplay the challenges the town faces financially, he reminded the board that the town has a AAA rating.
“Ultimately we will get through this,” the chair said.
Two days before Beverly finance director Bryant Ayles was announced as Ipswich’s first deputy town manager and finance director, the SelectBoard, Sweeney and town accountant Terri White spent most of its last meeting discussing the financial plight of the town.
“Bryant brings deep experience, strong leadership skills and an exceptional understanding of municipal finance,” Sweeney said. “Having worked with him for several years during my time on the Beverly City Council, I can confidently say he is one of the most talented municipal finance professionals in the Commonwealth and he will be an outstanding addition to the Ipswich team.”
Despite the town’s projected deficit for next year, it received 23 applications for the job.
The challenges the town faces include a 15 percent projected increase in employee health insurance, 7 percent retirement costs, 4 to 5 percent union employee wage hikes, 5 percent trash pickup expenses and almost double the budgeted legal expenses last year.
SelectBoard member Linda Alexson called Sweeney’s projections “eye opening.”
Sarah Player said, “Everything is on the table.”
According to the town announcement, Ayles has more than 25 years of public-sector experience, including more than a decade managing Beverly’s financial operations. Previously Ayles was deputy director and director of administration and finance at the Massachusetts Children’s Trust Fund and a budget supervisor and analyst at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.
