SWAMPSCOTT — Director of Finance and Administration Amy Sarro has announced that she will be resigning from her role effective June 27 to take on the position of Finance Director and City Auditor for Newburyport.
Sarro sat down to speak with The Item on Monday morning, where she reflected on her time in the role, as well as the challenges and rewards that she encountered during her experience.
“I started here as the town accountant, and my first day was ‘Star Wars Day’ (May 4), 2020 — and then, shortly before my one-year anniversary, I got promoted to the role of Director of Finances and Administration,” Sarro explained. “I’ve been in that role a little over four years now.”
According to Sarro, there were “a lot of different factors” that influenced her decision to step away from the role. “It was definitely not a decision that I made easily or lightly,” Sarro said. “I think that it was just a combination of a lot of factors, and ultimately, I felt like the opportunity in Newburyport was something that I couldn’t turn down.”
Sarro went on to say that her role “has done nothing but evolve.”
“I think it was just out of so many different facets… A few months after I started, our Human Resources Director resigned, so I had to take on H.R. for a number of years,” Sarro said. “We had a kind of ‘mass exodus’ a couple years ago when a bunch of people left, so we had to evolve to improve morale and recruit people.”
Sarro continued, “We had to put a lot more work into seeing how we could improve our capital planning, how we could improve our financial forecasts, even the budget… It just becomes a thing that evolves, and I think it’s worked better, but I think it really builds relationships, and gives me practice to answer a bunch of questions before I’m asked them in an auditorium full of people.”
She touched on the challenges that she encountered during the role.
“It was balancing our tax policy with the needs of the departments,” Sarro said. “It’s definitely been the most challenging, trying to find a great balance between providing the appropriate level of services per department, without creating an unnecessary tax burden… It’s definitely been the most time-consuming part, as well as the most challenging part.”
Regarding the topic of challenges and hurdles — Sarro then spoke briefly about navigating the challenges of this fiscal year specifically.
“We had additional challenges this year, too, with Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald stepping down, and Gino Cresta stepping in… So, it was trying to get him acclimated to municipal finance at the level he didn’t have to be before — and doing it while trying to get through the budget timeline,” Sarro said. “It was a perfect storm of situations this year, and we tried to amp up our communication.”
Sarro went on to elaborate. “Early on, Gino and I sat down to go through the budget after I got feedback from all the department heads and their budget requests… If we stuck with our tax policy, we would’ve had to cut about 22 positions and close an entire department.”
She recalled having extensive conversations with members of different departments and boards to hammer down the last remaining details, in order to find the best possible way forward as a community.
On the flip side, Sarro feels proud of many accomplishments during her tenure in Swampscott.
“I’m super proud of all the people I helped hire, because they’re incredible — I’m super proud that we got the new elementary school, and I’m glad we were able to manage our American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money, and get it all obligated before the deadline, and still was able to keep money to prioritize the public-health portion of it it, because that was my biggest thing… It was coming from public-health emergency funds, so we should make investments in public health — and I’m glad those were able to be preserved.”
Interim Town Administrator Gino Cresta shared his thoughts on Sarro’s upcoming departure.
“We are sincerely grateful to Amy for her excellent work in Swampscott over the last five years,” Cresta said. “While we are sorry to see her go, we wish her continued success and happiness in her new position.”
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