A $64 million budget is heading to a public hearing next month. The proposed total spending package is a $2,640,000, or 4.25%, increase over the current 2023-’24 budget. However, the tax rate is proposed to increase by 2.78%. Residents will get their say during the public hearing scheduled for Thursday, April 4, at 6 p.m. in Town Hall.

The proposed town budget is $23,964,131 (a $588,053 or 2.52% increase), and the proposed education budget is $40,824,824 (a $ 2,051,947 or 5.29% increase). Combined, the requested spending for 2024-’25 is $64,788,955. The tax rate is set to increase by 2.78%; the current mil rate is 29.83 but would rise to 30.66 under the proposal.

At a meeting on Feb. 27th The council voted in favor of forwarding both the proposed town and education budgets to the public hearing with the exception of Town Council Chairperson Carrie Allen who did not vote and council member Dennis Donovan who voted against the town budget and abstained form the education budget.

Last month, former Town Manager Karl Kilduff presented his initial proposed budget to the Town Council, which was slightly higher. The budget was originally proposed at $64,863,952, a $2,714,997 or 4.37% increase from the current fiscal year’s budget. The tax rate under that proposed budget was set to increase taxes by 5.10%.

At the meeting on Feb. 27, the council approved several suggested changes from Kilduff, notably increasing the amount of applied fund balance in the budget.

“There were two proposals posed by our former Town Manager Karl Kilduff, and the council chose the scenario in which we use [the] unassigned fund balance to pay for capital projects as opposed to some projects being funded by tax dollars,” said Allen. “What that means is that the rainy day fund is paying for those projects as opposed to funding them with the upcoming tax bill. Our last financial report posted a 27.4% unassigned fund balance, which is higher than the goal of 15%. We are using this excess to meet certain capital commitments, and we will continue to tighten our budget process to avoid future excess accumulation.”

The use of the fund balance has divided the council during recent budget cycles. Proponents of the move argue that using the excess money can help keep tax increases low, but opponents say it could hurt the town with looming capital projects that could require a big tax jump in the future. This year, using $3,689,230 of applied fund balance passed unanimously.

While the budgets were ultimately forwarded to voters there was a divide over a motion made by council member Hank Teskey on removing the reserves in the grand list for Board of Assessment Appeals. That motion passed with all four Democrats on the council (Teskey, Allen, Chirs Passante, and Brian Roccapriore) voting in favor while the Republican members of the council (Donovan, Chris Aniskovich and Mike Shove) voted against the motion.

“The Town's grand list was established in October 2023 but taxpayers have a right to appeal the assessed value of their property. The Town Manager put aside a reserve for potential loss of revenue on appeal. This year's appeals have now been filed and we know the amount claimed is small. So, the Council felt this reserve was not necessary.,” Allen explained.

However, the council as a whole didn’t agree with the move, as evidenced by the split decision on the motion. Donovan cited the motion as the primary reason he voted against the proposed town budget. “I just think you don’t know if those reserves could end up being needed if there’s an appeal. I didn’t see that being needed,” Donovan said of the cut.

As for the reason he abstained from the education budget Donovan said he was absent during the workshop where the council reviewed that proposed budget. “I didn’t think it was fair for me to make call against or for a budget I wasn’t at the review for. It wasn’t in good nature for me to make a comment on that one,” Donovan said.

While the proposed budgets are now heading to a public hearing, there is still a chance for the proposed budgets to change. Kilduff, who was present for the meeting on Feb. 27 since he was still the town manager when the budget process started, said there is a chance the budget will be adjusted with new healthcare assumptions that could bring additional savings to the town.

In the Hands of the Public

A public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 4, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall. Speakers can voice their opinions for or against the education or town budget. Immediately following, the Town Council will hold a special meeting at which it can make any last changes to either the education or town budget before sending the budget to voters in May.

Though the town and education budgets comprise the total budget, electors will vote on them separately when they approve or deny the budget at a referendum in May.

That means voters can pass one budget and reject the other in the same referendum.

If one or both of the budgets fail, the town council revises them immediately following the vote. The following week, another public hearing is held, and the week after the public hearing, another referendum is held.

The Harbor News will have more in-depth examinations of the town and education budgets before the public hearing.