The Easthampton City Council approved $100,000 for police.
Kenneth M. Chapin, of Easthampton, helps lay sod on Daley Field, a new baseball field that was constructed at Nonotuck Park in Easthampton in 2007. The city is hoping to add three new fields to the park.
EASTHAMPTON – The City Council approved three funding requests during a public hearing Wednesday night, including $100,000 for an unexpected shortfall in the police department budget.
The money in part was needed to buy back sick leave for two officers who are forced to retire because of job-related injuries, uniform allowance for a new officer hired to replace one of those officers as well as one-time only education incentive payments that had not be budgeted, said Mayor Michael A. Tautznik.
The council supported the transfer from reserve funds unanimously.
Last month, the council unanimously approved a $103,000 request to cover current and expected overtime costs through the remaining fiscal year that ends June 30.
Two firefighters are currently out of work, one for more than a year and another since last June.
This was the second year in a row that public safety budgets needed to be augmented.
The council Wednesday night also voted to appropriate $17,000 for a lawn mower needed for the Parks and Recreation Department.
With those expenditures, $381,100 remains in the city’s free cash account.
The council, meanwhile, will be considering another $227,900 in additional funding requests over the next month.
If approved, the city would have about $153,200 in reserves, according to the latest numbers from Finance Director Melissa Zawadzki.
The council also approved $27,000 in Community Preservation Act funding for the design of three new athletic fields for Nonotuck Park. That public hearing drew about a dozen people.
John Mason, director of Park and Recreation, said they would be applying for additional community preservation money for the eventual work but that both baseball and soccer programs would contribute.
“It’s a great use of CPA money,” said Fire Chief David Mottor, who was speaking as a member of the Easthampton Little League board. He said the park is a city jewel. But he said, “We don’t have enough room for children to play.”
High school programs also use the soccer and baseball fields.
Mason said the city currently has seven baseball and three soccer fields. The money requested is for the design of two baseball fields and one soccer field.
Tautznik said money from the Massachusetts Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities fund could be available to help fund the fields once they have a better idea of the cost.