The preparation and fine tuning of the annual town budget require months of work by the selectmen, the boards of education and the Board of Finance. The process concludes when the budget is put to a vote at the annual town meeting, being held at Botelle School this coming Monday, May 11, at 7:00 p.m.
The budget has three major components: town government, Botelle School and Northwest Regional 7 School. The school budgets are developed by the respective boards of education, and the town government budget is managed by the selectmen. The Board of Finance (BOF) reviews and suggests changes to the town government budget and reviews the Botelle budget in detail.
The town’s fiscal year begins on July 1. The proposed budget for 2026/2027 is $9.4 million, a 2.05 percent increase over the 2025/2026 year. Town government, at $4.7 million, accounts for half. The Botelle budget is $2.66 million and Regional 7’s is $2.05 million. The town has various sources of revenue including grants from the state and fees, but most of the funds, $8.4 million, must be raised from property taxes. The amount each property owner pays is based on every $1,000 of the assessed value of that property multiplied by a certain figure set yearly by the Board of Finance and known as the mill rate.
After reviewing and approving the budget, the BOF holds a hearing to answer questions from Norfolk residents. This year’s budget hearing was held on April 21 and lasted a total of eight minutes. The Regional 7 budget was passed by Norfolk voters in a referendum held on May 5.
The 2026/2027 budget being proposed has no increase in the mill rate despite the overall increase in costs. This feat was achieved by tapping into two types of town reserves, the capital reserve and the positive fund balance. The BOF decided that reducing the allocation to the capital reserve from $150,000 to $50,000 still left the town with a comfortable reserve of over $1.0 million.
The positive fund balance is the amount that the town has left in its operating budget at the end of a fiscal year. It fluctuates from year to year, but the town wants to maintain a minimum of 15 percent of the annual budget available for unanticipated expenses. As it has in some past years, the selectmen and the BOF decided to use some of these excess funds from the current year to carry forward and help reduce the amount needed to be raised from taxes. After using some of the excess 2025/2026 funds It is projected that the town will still have a healthy fund balance of between 25 and 30 percent.
Please try to attend the town meeting at Botelle on May 11 at 7:00 p.m. The proposed budget is posted on the town website. Click here for the draft budget by department and click here for the draft income summary.