The Board of Selectmen (BOS) and the Board of Education (BOE) have both submitted their 2023-'24 budgets to the Board of Finance (BOF), which will begin conducting public workshops leading up to the referendum vote in May. Despite the burgeoning costs that municipalities are facing with inflation, supply chain issues, and a still uncertain economic future, both the BOS and BOE submitted what officials are referring to as a modest increase for taxpayers.

The submissions to the BOF from the entities include a BOE budget increase of 2.65%, and a Town increase of 4.86%, making for an overall budget increase total of 3.4%.

The BOE budget for the fiscal year 2022-'23 was approved at $60,255,417, and this year's proposal is $61,850,694, which translates into a nearly $1.6 million increase or a 2.65% increase overall. According to the figures submitted by the BOE, their operational budget grew by slightly more than $2.1 million from $58,757,887 to $60,897,894 for a 3.64% increase. However, their debt service and bond obligations decreased from $1,497,530 to $952,800, a decrease of .9%, bringing in an overall budget figure of a 2.65% increase.

The town's operational budget was $25,027,950 in 2022-'23, which will increase to $25,762,997. Capital funding would increase from $4,565,885 to $5,158,302 under the current BOS proposal.

The mil rate configured by the BOS under this budget proposal would rise from the current 29.41 figure to a recommendation of 29.99, an increase of 1.97%.

First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons said she and the board focused on keeping the town's operational spending to a minimum while still focusing on longer range costs that will arise as the result of the capital spending on the school renovation and construction projects, as well as the new Community Center project.

"I think our goal was to keep the town operations growing at the least amount as possible. So, I am proud of the fact that we were able to keep our operating budget, despite the high inflationary environment we are in, at less than three percent," said Lyons. "If you take health care cost out of that, the operational budget is only growing by 1.9%, and I think that shows that we are trying to do a lot here in town hall to keep costs down and being more efficient in how we are delivering services."

Lyons said budget work is often a nuanced undertaking as a municipality tries to keep short-term costs low while still preparing for and identifying funding sources for anticipated costs.

"The other part of this budget is that we are also budgeting more money into the capital accounts to help save for future capital needs. So, even though the operational budget is down to their lowest level they've been in many years, we are still trying to put more into capital so that we have money to pay for projects in the future. When that debt service starts going up as we bond for these projects, we can reduce what we put into the capital accounts but still get projects done. So, we are trying to balance those two so that the budget grows at low rates."

Selectman Bruce Wilson said he and his fellow board members have a difficult task in keeping expenses down due to the large cost increases in health care and other items that the town has little ability to manage or mitigate.

"I think both the Board of Education and the town this year are seeing substantial increases in health insurance costs; we're self-insured, and the expenses are going up dramatically, and they're going dramatically everywhere. But when you look at what is driving the increases for both the board of ed and the town is healthcare," said Wilson.

Wilson noted that neither the town nor the BOE was seeing significant increases in normal operating costs. The budget increases are being driven by increases in healthcare costs and debt service, a trend, he said, likely to continue for the next few years.

"As the Academy project and the elementary school project start to get rolling, we are going to be taking on more and more debt," Wilson said.

"The rate at which we need to expend funds for these projects is going accelerate quickly, and so the challenge…is to stay on top of those expenses that we can control-the staffing, the cost of living, and then just make the best of those expenses that we can't control like healthcare."

Board of Finance Chair John Picard said that there are some unique issues facing most municipalities this year in terms of budget proposals.

"The cost of living has gone up, and unfortunately for people, it has gone up in their personal life but also obviously on the town side," Picard said. "Utilities are more expensive; fuel is more expensive. You can go down the list. So, we are going to do our best to balance the needs of our constituents with the actual budget and hopefully keep taxes in check."

Picard urged residents to participate in the public budget workshops being offered.

"We always welcome the public. We want public input if at all possible, or they can email us. We want their input," said Picard.

BOF will commence its budget workshops this week and will continue those forums into April. A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 18, and the BOF will then submit a recommended budget that will go to a public referendum on May 16. The town then sets the mill rate on May 17.