American Legion Park in Georgetown will soon have paid parking for out-of-towners.
Selectman Peter Kershaw recently met with the Parks and Recreation Commission to discuss installing a kiosk at the local summer hangout, similar to kiosks found in Newburyport.
The kiosks are battery-operated and can be charged with solar power. The basic models cost about $7,000, while other features including the ability to accept cash and print receipts can be added which would increase the price.
“The system itself is kind of fully customizable,” Kershaw said.
The Board of Selectmen have been talking about adding a parking sticker program to American Legion Park for a few years now, to help offset the costs associated with running that park.
Wicked Local
The Georgetown Board of Selectmen met Monday night to discuss hiring a recruiter to find a replacement for Fire Chief Fred Mitchell Jr., but Selectmen Chair David Twiss had a different idea.
“When the last fire chief was hired, the pay was dramatically different. We brought that person up to speed and into what the market rate is for a fire chief,” Twiss said. “And this is a community where it’s sought after at that level, in the high-ranking positions. And we don’t need to go down the rabbit hole as to why, but it is.”
Georgetown is suddenly running about $260,000 in deficit, due to pandemic-related delays with excise taxes.
Last year, when the town manager and Finance Advisory Board worked out the Fiscal Year 2021 budget, they set the town’s excise tax projections at about $120,000 more than what would be generated by the tax, Georgetown Selectmen Chair David Twiss explained.
“We predicted a bunch of people would buy new cars and cost of the excise tax would go up, etc., and people moving into town, and so on and so forth,” Twiss said. “What happened is we got struck with a worldwide pandemic, and with people working from home and not traveling, obviously less apt to buy a new vehicle.”