A lightly attended public hearing held Monday to present a proposed $9,426,846 budget for 2026-2027 drew no comment from the public. The budget, which reflects an increase of $189,276, up 2.05 percent over the current budget, will not boost taxation.
The amount of increase was misstated in last week’s budget article as 2.50 percent.
The Board of Finance will pull $216,000 from the town’s Positive Balance Fund to offset any increase, keeping the mill rate flat at 22.49.
“The increase in the budget was modest, less than inflation,” said Board of Finance Chairman Michael Sconyers. “The Board of Selectmen deserves a lot of credit for this, despite having to deal with a couple of curveballs.”
He was referring to a town meeting held a couple of weeks ago that approved buying a new $270,000 plow truck for this coming winter using funds remaining from the termination of the town’s defined pension plan. That meeting also set aside $130,000 from the same source to start a savings account for the purchase of a $1.1 million firetruck.
Another $130,000 is set aside in the proposed budget for the fire truck and a second plow truck will also be purchased.
First Selectman Henry Tirrell said he has applied for federal Congressional discretionary funds to help with the purchase of the fire truck and is hopeful the town will receive the money.
“This budget is really good news,” said Sconyers.
It will be taken to a 7:00 p.m. town meeting on Monday, May 11, at Botelle School.