At an April 28 town meeting, the Deep River Board of Finance (BOF) presented the proposed town and schools $19,116,339 budget for the 2022-’23 fiscal year, a $1,729,414 or 8.30 percent drop in total expenditures from the current year’s budget. The Deep River budget—barring any changes should the Region 4 School District budget be declined at a region-wide referendum on May 3 (after press time)—will go before town voters at the Monday, May 16 Annual Town Meeting.

The meeting began with the presentation of the budget for Deep River Elementary School and Region 4, which comprise about 70 percent of the anticipated actual budget.

The proposed Deep River Elementary School budget is $5,689,512, a $111,708 or 2.00 percent increase by from the current year’s budget. Deep River’s share of the proposed Region 4 budget is $7,472,757, a decrease of $91,818 or 1.21 percent compared to the current budget. Overall schools spending as proposed rises $19,890 or 1.51 percent.

Region 4 School District Superintendent Brian White described the education budget as “a people-driven budget,” as approximately 86 percent of the budget funds would be allocated towards staff salaries and benefits. The former accounts for 64.1 percent of the overall budget, with $3,711,414 to be spent on salaries, while employee benefits make up 21.86 percent of funds, with $1,193,877 to be made available.

Regarding salaries, White said that salary changes contribute the most significant aspect of spending as a result of the renegotiating of several expired salary contracts, including six labor contracts that need to be renegotiated every three years. The negotiation process for this year’s contracts was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and needed to be resumed for this next year’s budget, resulting in increases. Aside from salaries and benefits, White also presented the capital requests for the elementary school, which includes only two items, specifically $4,900 for re-painting and anticipated renovations to the school playground, which was not accompanied by a figure since the BOE is unsure as to when renovations would need to be made.

BOF Chair George Eckenroth presented town spending proposal for 2022-’23. Eckenroth said that the “ghost of budgets past” has and will influence the “ghost of budgets present and future”, and discussed in detail the major changes in the budget and the reasons for increases or decreases.

Town spending is proposed at $5,914,252, a $1,749,303 or 22.83 percent decrease from approved 2022-’23 spending, a decrease fueled largely by a $2,246,951 decrease in capital spending.

The town expects to finish the current fiscal year with a surplus, and will carry a $2.2 million surplus for the next fiscal year, according to the proposal, which Eckenroth described as “very prudent to cover any uncertainties that come to the town over the next year.”

The proposed budget would result in an anticipated 0.6 mill decrease in the mill rate, a drop of 2.03 percent, partially resulting from utilizing the town’s surplus in spending, and also from a $16,255,723, or 3.05 percent increase in the Net Taxable Grand List. The largest contributing factor to this increase is predominantly the result of the growth in the value of used motor vehicles, accounting for 73 percent the Grand List increase, and will result in a 20 percent increase in revenue form the Motor Vehicle Supplemental Tax, as reflected in the budget.

If the budget is adopted, the town will collecting an additional $140,506 from taxpaters in 2022-’23, an increase of 0.90 percent in direct taxes.

In the category of selectmen, the salaries for First Selectman Angus McDonald and other Board of Selectmen members will increase by 3.5 percent according to the proposed budget, however the BOS has not reached an official agreement on what their yearly salaries will be, according to Eckenroth. Currently, the first selectman salary is $73.364 and the selectman salary is $8,385 annually.

In anticipation of a future settlement, the budget includes an $18,402 Union Negotiation Reserve Contingency so that the budget reflects what potentially salaries could be.

Other departments will be on the receiving end of salary increases, including for police officers.

The town’s four part-time officers will see an increase in pay to $55,146 yearly, a 49.27 percent increase from the current year’s budget. This comes as a result of increasing their patrols to 15 from the current number of 12, and came at the recommendation of the town’s resident state trooper, whose $210,000 salary line will be cut by 9.28 percent. The program director for the Parks & Recreation Department will see an increase in salary to $55,000 in the proposed budget, a 14.61 percent increase from the current year. The town tax collector will see a 6.16 percent salary increase to $50,000, due to a change in job performance over the last few years, mainly from a greater workload year round.

In the category of waste/recycling, the proposed budget calls for a significant increase in salaries for the hiring of a new operator, and the existing waste removal operator, and assistant operator the town Transfer Station, totally $113,664 increase to be split among the three employees. The hiring of a new operator was a driving factor in the 164.31 percent increase in spending on salaries. A general government capital expense of $25,000 has been allocated for a new road at Transfer Station, and will be paved by an unspecified outside party.

General government capital expenses in the proposal will be cut by 89.65 percent from the current year, resulting in $259,269 made available for next year’s budget. The significant decrease, totaling $1,729,414, is the result of several appropriations the BOF made during budget workshops to fit in those expenses into the 2021-’22 budget. These appropriations include $500,000 for new radios to be used by several departments, $750,000 for a new fire truck and a $400,000 new tanker truck for the Fire Department, and $200,000 for a new plow truck to be used by Public Works.

In the category of special services, the proposed budget calls for a $30,000 increase in the computer support fee, as the town is upgrading computer hardware and software to prevent any cyberattacks against the town. While no hacks have occurred, the BOF found it unacceptable to not act in preparation of a potential cybersecurity threat, given the large number of small towns across the country who have faced these threats, according to Eckenroth.

The budget, which will go to a town vote on May 16, was summed up by Eckenroth at the end of the presentation according to its fiscal soundness.

“The BOF believes that we have identified and are acquiring the assets which will provide services to current and future residents. We believe we have organized our security tools, and tried to anticipate costs in the current inflationary environment. We are trying to use this budget to lay directions and goals for the town for the actions to achieve those goals. We hope this budget will give employees and volunteers the focus they need to move the town forward.”

The May 16 Annual Town Meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.