Mattapoisett’s budget has a ways to go before it is finalized for Town Meeting in May, but on Tuesday night, Selectmen discussed several areas that will see increases.

The current budget draft is $23,229,658, an almost $700,000 increase over the current budget.

Fire department
For the Fire Department, there will be an increase in the on-call personnel wages.

“I’m a little concerned on coverage during the day,” said Town Administrator Mike Gagne.

The increase will give firefighters a minimum of two hours pay for a call, compared to the one hour minimum they are currently paid. Gagne said, going forward, he would like to see more new firefighters be members of the community who live and work in town so they are available during the week to help with fires.

Additional staff
Several departments have requested increases in hours and/or wages for personnel, including additional time for the Planning Board secretary, wages for inspection services in the building department and a new part-time position at the Highway Department.

For the latter, Selectman Jordan Collyer suggested an alternative option.

“Rather than beef up part-time personnel, I’d rather hire a full-time person,” he said.

A new full-time position could reduce costs on other line items as there would be less need for contract plowers and there would be an extra pair of hands when others in the department are on leave.

Trash and recycling
The cost for the SEMASS contract is one of the largest increases on the budget. Due to a contract renewal, which will increase the cost of trash per ton, the town will see an $55,000 bump to a total of $123,000. Some of that may be offset by the new recycling bins that are expected to increase recycling and reduce the amount of solid waste.

Education
Mattapoisett’s regular day budget is seeing a 2.9 percent increase, in line with the Selectmen’s request.

“I think the local schools did extremely well this year,” said Selectman Paul Silva.

Gagne and Selectmen said the Old Rochester Regional budget is being handled better than in previous years with less reliance on the contingency fund (or excess and deficiency fund) and more conservative numbers.

Going forward, other areas that still need to be discussed and reviewed are an additional part-time position for the library and the harbormaster’s budget.