The annual Town Meeting begins Saturday, March 4, with the school informational meeting at 10 a.m. at the Weathersfield School, followed by the town at 1:30 p.m. Between both meetings, a presentation on a consultant’s report on the possible creation of a fire district is at 1 p.m. Voting by Australian ballot on Weathersfield’s town and school budgets and other appropriations is from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 7, at Martin Memorial Hall in Ascutney.
Weathersfield
A fire district would turn management of the volunteer fire departments in Ascutney and West Weathersfield over to a board that was elected by residents but independent of the Selectboard. Currently the two departments are private, nonprofit entities that receive some tax dollars.
The presentation is a follow-up to a consultant’s report last year that reviewed the departments and made recommendations on firefighting and emergency medical services capabilities and improved relationships with the town.
The 37-page report also urges the town to move forward with implementing a plan over the next two to four years to create a single fire department.
An alternative recommendation by the consultant, John Wood Jr., if the first option proves too “problematic” is for the town to get out of trying to govern the departments and “just pay each association to provide fire protection to the community.”
The proposed general fund budget of $1.48 million is about $203,000, or 16 percent, more than this year’s, and the highway budget of a little more than $1 million is $65,000 or 6.5 percent, above current spending.
Town Manager Ed Morris said the tax rate impact of the two budgets is just below 4.5 cents per $100 of valuation, with 2.6 cents of the increase to cover new debt on capital purchases approved by voters last year, including a new firetruck and new police cruiser. The remaining tax increase is mostly for a $10,000 increase in the stipend paid to the fire departments and a 3 percent across-the-board pay raise for town employees.
“They did not receive raises last year,” Morris said of the municipal employees, adding that with the increase in health insurance and cost of living, they suffered a 1.5 to 2 percent reduction in take-home pay last year.
Morris described the tax increase as “higher than normal” but noted that in past years, when reserve accounts were drawn down, year-end surpluses that could have helped build those reserves back up were instead used to keep the tax rate “artificially low” and was not reflective of actual spending.
“Sooner or later, you will run out of money,” he said.
Morris’ goal is to replenish reserve accounts and stabilize the budget. At the end of the last fiscal year, on June 30, surplus money was put into some of the town’s reserve funds.
“This fiscal year, we have worked to change the fiscal philosophy to rebuild the reserves required to stabilize the budget,” Morris wrote in a report to the town. “The reserve funds are invaluable when it comes to stabilizing the tax rate.”
The warning has three articles to put money into the police cruiser ($7,000) and fire ($30,000) and highway ($30,000) equipment reserve funds.
Also on the warning are articles to borrow $170,000 over five years for a new truck/snowplow; $30,000 for a handicap access ramp at the 1879 portion of the former Perkinsville School; $2,250 for The Current, a bus service; and several requests from nonprofit service agencies of $750 or less.
The overall projected municipal tax rate increase if all appropriations are approved is 6.7 cents, bringing the municipal rate to 69.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
The proposed school budget of $5.68 million is down $337,482, or 5.6 percent, from this year’s and would result in a decrease in the education homestead tax rate of 1.19 cents to $1.57, School Board Chairman Nate McKeen said.
The decrease in the budget comes because for the first time this year, the supervisory union assessments for special education services were applied after deducting Medicaid reimbursements. Consequently, both those expenses and revenues, equaling about $340,000, are no longer in the budget.
McKeen, who is not seeking re-election to another three-year term, said about half of the $441,000 surplus for the year ending June 30, 2016, will go toward lowering the tax rate for next year. The School Board, under a warning article, is recommending the other $220,900 be put in a property tax reduction fund and be used to offset any tax increase in the next two years, should expenses increase or non-tax revenues drop.
“For this year our expenditure per equalized pupil is increasing 2.19 percent, due to a combination of increases in salary and health care, technology increase, and special (education) increase,” McKeen said in an email. “Overall our budget projections are relatively stable. We have ended with a small surplus two years in a row.”
If voters pass all recommended town and school appropriations, the homestead tax rate, combining school and town, is expected to increase 5.5 cents to $2.26 per $100 of assessed valuation and add $110 in taxes on a property assessed at $200,000.
There are no contested races for town or school positions this year.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
Clarification
A proposed fire district in Weathersfield, which would combine the two volunteer departments in town, would be managed by an elected board independent of the Selectboard. A story in Friday’s Valley News about the measure, which will be discussed at Town Meeting, was unclear on the oversight.
