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04/27/2021 04:20 PMAfter a good deal of uncertainty as the town navigated the evolving world of state restrictions and guidance about the 2021 budget process, Guilford has successfully approved its fiscal year 2021-’22 budget and set a mill rate, following a referendum on April 20 that saw some of the lowest turnout in recent memory.
After a handful of virtual workshops, the Board of Finance (BOF) eventually cut $100,000 from the proposed budgets—$50,000 from the town and $50,000 from the schools—to settle on a final budget of $105,169,759, an increase of $1,726,508 over last year, or 1.67 percent.
That resulted in a mill increase of 0.95 percent, or 0.31 mills to 32.62.
The schools budget came in at $62,395,900, an increase of $867,441 or 1.41 percent, and the town at $32,352,871, an increase of $933,264 or 2.97 percent.
Two bonding questions—$6.17 million for the schools and just under $4.5 million for the town—were also approved. Projects being bonded for include ventilation system and boiler replacements at the town’s elementary schools, new dump trucks for the town, and a new track and turf field at the high school.
The BOF also previously voted to infuse $50,000 from the undesignated fund balance to help keep taxes down.
After initially hoping to allow broad no-excuse absentee voting and shuffle some dates around in order to increase turnout, Guilford was unable to negotiate with Governor Ned Lamont’s office in order to extend certain executive orders and held a mostly traditional referendum with in-person voting and a handful of residents casting absentee ballots.
Turnout stood at around 12 percent of eligible voters, according to Registrar of Voters Gloria Nemczuk, which she said was the lowest for a budget referendum in decades. Guilford fielded the state minimum for staffing at polling places, about 5 workers, compared to 10 in November, she added.
Board of Finance Chair Michael Ayles said he was grateful to everyone who did show up to vote, while adding it was “unfortunate” that turnout was so low.
“The opportunity was there for people to get out, and that was the important part,” he said.
About half the town’s electorate cast absentee ballots in the November 2020 presidential elections. Only 45 residents did so for the budget.
Though the referendum went smoothly as far as logistics, Nemczuk said she was disappointed in the turnout, particularly after an outcry last year when the BOF approved the budget without a vote by townsfolk.
“A lot of people were up in arms about that. And here they had a chance to vote, and 12 percent came out,” she said.
Ayles said he understood that a lot of people were still hesitant to get out and vote with the pandemic, which the town anticipated but in the end couldn’t find a path to broader absentee voting like last December.
“That’s the way it is right now,” he said.
Nemczuk said she had heard that some people were unaware that a referendum was happening even though the town publicized it in all the usual ways. Around 75 people joined the virtual budget meeting to send the budget to referendum, which is also much higher than attendance has been in recent years, according to officials.