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05/10/2016 04:30 PMDeep River town and school officials are proposing a 2016-’17 budget of $16,419,832, up $671,202 or 4.26 percent over the current budget. The Annual Town Meeting to approve or deny the budget will be at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 16 in the auditorium of the Town Hall.
Just over two dozen residents showed up at the May 3 public hearing in Deep River to hear the Board of Finance’s explanation of this year’s budget numbers. The main driver of budget increases was educational costs, particularly for the middle and high schools. Other notable increases include heath care costs for town employees, the addition of another town crew employee, and the cost of the town resident state trooper.
“We hope people come out to vote on this budget...because this is their town,” said Board of Finance Chairman George Eckenroth. “It is important to participate in town government and support our expenditures.”
Deep River’s portion of the Regional District 4 Education budget, $6,240,276, has spiked 6.59 percent or $385,838 up from the previous budget year.
“This makes up a large portion of our budget and drives a good deal of the budgetary costs in town,” said Eckenroth.
The $5,521,754 requested Deep River Elementary School budget is up $87,254 or 1.61 percent.
Employee benefits are up $64,735 or 13.20 percent, to $554,985.
This year the Deep River Highway Department has included a line item for the addition of a new town crew employee. Although discussions about this line item were held prior to the untimely passing of first selectman Dick Smith, nothing was solidified at that time. However, because Smith helped out considerably in this area, town officials decided that the position is definitely needed and an additional $54,716 has been added to the Highway Department portion of the budget.
In addition, extra expenditures had to be added to the budget to cover the costs of the resident state trooper in town. In the past, the state has helped to fund the costs associated with this position, however, due to budgetary cost cuts in Hartford, the town now has to foot the bill for 100 percent of this cost, which accounts for $95,830 of the total town budget.
“The financial decisions made in this budget are what helps to drive the success of our town,” said Eckenroth. “I encourage everyone to come out and vote at the referendum and support our town.”
For more information, a detailed copy of the entire budget is available for review on the Deep River town website at www.deepriverct.us.