Budget season.

The TC met for several hours this past week to review the budget presented by the Town Administrator. We reviewed each department with the department heads, going through the budget line item by line item. Being new to the Council, it was an eye-opening exercise.

In the end, the TC has recommended an additional $110,000* in cuts to the operating budget. This will be presented as a resolution Wednesday night, voted on, and then the budget will go to the Budget Committee.

The $110,000 represents a lot of small cuts and one big change due to a mistake that was found while we went through the budget. Some of the cuts include: Welfare, cut by approximately $11,000; IT cut by $2,500; Buildings and Grounds, cut by about $16,000; Fire, cut by $2,500; and Solid Waste, cut by $5,000.

In addition, we had a discussion about the fund balance and what to do with it. After much debate, the consensus was to use the funds a little differently than in recent years. We are recommending to use $450,000 of the fund balance to offset expenses in Fiscal Year 2016. But this year the CIP contributions have been separated from the operating budget and people will vote on those as individual warrant articles. The bulk of that $450,000 will go toward funding those contributions. The remainder, approximately $75,000, will be used to offset general expenses. 

We will also create a new Capital Improvement item (recommending to place approximately $100,000 in that fund) for road repair and then applying the remainder to lowering the tax rate for next year (approximately $100,000). 

I know there are things that we probably should spend more money on - roads are a great example -  but we tried to find a middle ground. Overall, the Council worked very well together and it was a positive experience for me (or as positive as spending hours on a Saturday morning looking at budgets can be.)

The Budget Committee will review the Town budget on 11/17 & 11/24 at 6:30pm.  The public hearing for the Town budget is scheduled for 12/17 at 7pm. In addition, the school district is also starting their budget process. The School Board will meet this Thursday at 6:00pm to discuss the budget.


*All numbers are approximates.