HADLEY — Hadley officials are interested in buying new budgeting software to assist various financial and personnel offices at Town Hall, though this will come at a potential cost of more than $25,000 annually.

The Select Board last week unanimously gave the go-ahead for Treasurer Linda Sanderson to pursue a state Community Compact IT grant to cover the initial start-up costs, and the seed money, for implementing the ClearGov software into town operations. The grant being sought is expected to be for about $35,000.

Sanderson said the software will give precision to preparing municipal budgets and support those who work at Town Hall now and in the future.

“The accuracy is extremely important, the flexibility is very important and attracting future people to these jobs in Town Hall is very important,” Sanderson said.

The budgeting software will likely have what she calls “carrying costs” in the $25,000 to $30,000 range a year.

Select Board member Molly Keegan said the investment would be important for the town, which is now a $20 million a year organization.

Sanderson said the software has modules to cover operating budgets, including creating revenue projections, and would automatically generate budget request forms for departments that would be sent to department heads, who then will be able to submit these in real time. The software can also prepare the annual budget book in advance of Town Meeting.

ClearGov also can handle capital budgets, where it can group funding sources for these allocations, and track project management after the fact.

“This is a good program. We are in need of a budgeting program going forward,” Sanderson said. “We are looking at succession planning.”

There is an add-on for personnel tasks that can track cost of living adjustments and step raises for employees, providing information as contracts are negotiated.

Human Resources Director Troy Brin said ClearGov should be seen as personnel budgeting software, not personnel management software.

While it won’t replace people, Sanderson said it will reduce errors, noting her system of importing spreadsheets through a cut-and-paste process, and use of Excel, may not always be accurate.

Meanwhile, Tax Collector Susan Glowatsky recently obtained a $10,000 risk management grant to buy a drone that will be used for building inspections and water tank inspections that the fire department will also be able to use. Another grant is paying for thermal cameras for checking buildings for leaks and seven ergonomic chairs for use by staff at Town Hall.

In other business, the Select Board approved $130,916 in end-of-fiscal-year interdepartmental transfers. Most of the money is being transferred from the health insurance and unemployment insurance line budget lines to a series of other line items, including employer Medicare, library wages and books and legal expenses for litigation and town counsel.

Sanderson said with a $20 million municipal budget, the overspending on some line items and underspending elsewhere are not concerns. “I think to come in that close, we’ve done fairly well,” Sanderson said.

Select Board members flagged the $16,022 additional needed to pay for electricity at the public safety complex last year, with the $41,000 spent well over the $25,000 budgeted.

“Electricity bills came in much higher,” said Town Administrator Carolyn Brennan. Brennan said electricity costs were unknown for cities and towns. “It was just a really hard year to budget for,” Brennan said.

Keegan wondered if the town should explore installing solar panels at the property.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.

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