Woodstock’s Town Meeting will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, at Woodstock Town Hall. Voting on ballot items will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6, at Town Hall.

Woodstock — Town Meeting voters will consider a municipal budget that includes a 10.2 percent tax increase, which officials say is needed to fund a variety of unavoidable cost increases, as well as a new, more aggressive approach to building the town’s reserves.

“We’re increasing our capital savings,” said Selectwoman Jill Davies, who was elected to the board last year along with Sonya Stover, another newcomer. “If you don’t save, you have to borrow to buy the equipment, and then you have to pay a lot of interest.”

Davies said the new approach was due in part to the influence of herself and Stover, who brought “new eyes taking a look at” the town’s financial strategies.

The proposed fiscal year 2019 municipal budget is for $6.04 million, up 9.7 percent, or $588,612, from the current year’s budget. Under the proposed budget, the amount raised by property taxes would be $4.036 million, up 10.2 percent, or $373,000, from the current year’s.

Right now, town residents pay property taxes at a rate of 42 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Under the proposed budget, that would increase 10.2 percent, or 4.2 cents per $100 of property valuation. For a home valued at $250,000, that amounts to a $105 increase.

Davies characterized much of the spending increases as being in response to state mandates, which she said have imposed ever-tougher standards on public roads and safety equipment for emergency responders.

Davies also said there is money in the budget to bring about energy savings that will pay themselves off fairly quickly. She said the Town Hall will be the beneficiary of a weatherization and boiler replacement project that could reduce energy costs for the building to $17,000 from $28,000, and that a $15,000 lights and sensors replacement project at the wastewater treatment plant will result in $5,000 of annual savings.

The proposed tax increase follows a 14.2 percent increase in taxes that was approved by Town Meeting voters in 2017. The main driver of that increase, according to Municipal Manager Phil Swanson, was the discovery of a 30-year-old agreement concerning Highway Department services that effectively shifted costs from Woodstock Village to the town.

Within Woodstock Village, the proposed spending increase is even more dramatic, up 15.1 percent from last year’s $1.32 million budget to $1.51 million. Under the proposal, the amount raised by property taxes in the village would increase by 31 percent, to $513,857 from $392,375. The projected impact on the tax rate was not available.

Last year, the Village enjoyed a slight decline in its tax rate, to 58.9 cents, because of the shift.

The newly formed Windsor Central Modified Unified Union School District, which includes Woodstock, will hold its annual meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 12, at the Woodstock High School Teagle Library.

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.