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05/06/2024 02:24 PMA $119 million budget proposal will headline the agenda for the annual Town Meeting scheduled for April 2. Residents will vote to send the Town and education budgets to a referendum on Tuesday, April 16.
The proposed 2024-'25 budget of $119,080,224 is the result of a March 7 Board of Finance (BOF) vote to reduce the Town operating budget by $100,000 and the Board of Education budget by $200,000. The proposed Town budget will be $36,956,226, representative of a 3.57% increase from the 2023-'24 budget, while the education budget proposal is now $71,957,151, a 4.8% increase from the current fiscal year. Debt service comprises $10,166,847 of the spending package. Overall, the proposal represents a 3.98% increase over the current 2023-'24 budget.
"These budgets are a reflection of the administrators and the staff to provide quality service to the citizens of our town while being mindful of the impact of the increases of costs that all of Guilford's taxpayers are facing," said BOF member Jeffrey Beatty. "Most of the increase on the Board of Education side is for salaries and existing services."
According to Superintendent of Guilford Public Schools Dr. Paul Freeman, the BOE budget seeks funding for two positions that are currently covered by the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). ESSER funding for those positions, a districtwide social worker and a districtwide school psychologist, is set to expire before the start of the 2024-'25 academic year.
"We originally built four to five positions into the ESSER dollars. We slowly pulled those positions into the operating budget so that this year we would not be sitting on a cliff and asking for five positions that all became unfunded and all needed to move into the operating budget at the same time." Freeman explained. "So, this year, in this budget request in front of us, the only two positions that are still currently funded by ESSER that we are asking to build into next year's budget position are the districtwide school social worker and the districtwide school psychologist position."
BOF Chair Michael Ayles noted that, in addition to allocating funds for the two positions, the BOE budget also includes capital bond authorization requests of $2,452,080 for five capital projects. Those projects include $925,650 for pipe and unit vent and oil tank replacement at Melissa Jones Elementary School and $226,440 for tennis court replacement at Guilford Lakes Elementary School.
The Town budget, combined with debt service, totals 47,123,073, 2.77% higher than the 2023-'24 budget. The total operating budget includes a $3,029 increase in the operating capital budget and a reduction of $292 in debt service. The Town operating budget saw its biggest increases for information services, with $594,374 requested over the $443,765 budgeted in 2023-'24. The increase represents a 33.94% change. According to First Selectman Matt Hoey, the increase is due to changes in the town's permitting system. The software tracks permits across land use departments, including health, planning and zoning, and building permits.
"This is an online permitting system which is going to create efficiencies for our staff as well as conveniences for the general public in processing the permits — the multitude of permits — that exist in our land use departments," Hoey said. "This is a tool that will allow us to be more efficient in processing permits."
Hoey noted that the Board of Selectmen approved the move to digital permitting several years ago, and he expects a go-live date in early June.
Voters will get the opportunity to weigh in on the proposed $119 million budget at the Tuesday, April 2, annual Town Meeting. The budget is then expected to be forwarded to a referendum on Tuesday, April 16.