MATTAPOISETT — The Sewer Department faced the biggest budget increases of four departments that met with the town’s Select Board Monday, Feb. 7 to review their Fiscal Year 2023 budgets. 

On the water side of the department, personnel and salary increases in the Water and Sewer Department meant that the budget increased 2.7 percent. 

However, high expenses with the wastewater treatment plant meant that the large increase was in the sewer budget, which went up 17 percent. 

Water and Sewer department Superintendent Henri Renauld explained that some of that expense may be offset by credits later this year. However, that has not yet been determined. 

The town will also look to sell a water-and sewer-related property on Church Street and convert the funds from the sale to retained earnings to go toward building costs for the department in 2024.

For the Council on Aging, Library and Highway Department, the changes and requests were much more modest. 

In 2020, Massachusetts made the decision to allow Council on Aging funds to roll over from the previous year, which is usually not the case. This helped keep the Council on Aging budget in the positive, Council on Aging Director Jackie Coucci explained.  

There have been fewer seniors using some COA services, such as dental services, she said, but the department has been relying more on their hired drivers for rides to medical appointments instead of volunteers. 

However, Coucci said that the rides budget should cover the expenses, and that she had no additional requests if the town should have extra funding.  

At the Mattapoisett Free Public Library, the biggest expenses have been an increase in office supplies for pandemic-related cleaning and masking. Keeping up with the state requirement that 19 percent of the budget be spent on books and audiovisual materials was also a priority for Library Director Jennifer Jones. 

She said she would look to supplement the state-mandated expense with some grant funds. She also said that she would want any extra funds from the town to go to those two areas. 

There were also two issues that came up with the parking lot, one related to lighting and one related to a security camera there. 

Select board members requested that Jones use the same company as the Police Department and harbormaster had used for security cameras, so that they will be able to integrate all of their security footage in one place. 

The highway department budget has largely stayed the same, with some of the higher expenses being related to storm clean-up. Highway Surveyor Garrett Bauer explained that these include overtime, a special public safety detail and the price of salt for the roads, which has increased. 

Select board members acknowledged that the spending was necessary and helped to keep the town safer. 

Bauer said that his request, if there were additional budget funds, would be money for road repair and drainage projects.