WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Hartford officials this week began discussing a budget for next year that would attempt to minimize the financial strain on residents caused by COVID-19.

“The Selectboard has been very concerned — and rightly so — about what the future might be,” Interim Town Manager John MacLean said at a virtual Hartford Selectboard meeting during the fiscal year 2022 budget presentation Tuesday night.

The proposed general fund budget as it was introduced to the board Tuesday would increase the town tax rate by 1.6 cents per $100 of valuation, or a $40 increase for the owner of a $250,000 home.

In order to keep the tax rate that low, Hartford would have to use $565,000 of the town’s savings, which Hartford has built up over the past two years, Finance Director Gail Ostrout said at the meeting

“I feel very strongly that in order to help relieve the burden on taxpayers, but also to help maintain the current services we do provide, we do need to utilize the unassigned fund,” Ostrout said, adding that the town hasn’t dipped into savings in recent years.

The budget meeting followed a directive from the Selectboard asking every town department to submit proposals for flat budgets, as well as budgets decreased by 5% and by 10% in an attempt to reduce the financial impact from the pandemic. The departments have been presenting their proposals to the board over the last few months.

Tuesday night’s meeting was dominated by a discussion of the town’s “supplemental items” — services that have been left out of each department’s budget — to determine whether there are any the board wants to include in the final budget proposal.

A key discussion came with the energy coordinator position, typically a full-time, 34-hour-a-week position with a salary of just under $30,000, that the town had considered turning into a part-time position to save money. But several board members raised concerns, saying a part-time role would draw in fewer qualified candidates.

“Cutting the energy coordinator position to a part-time position and limiting the benefits is going to impact the quality of candidate that we can get to do that position,” said board member Simon Dennis, adding that the town has set some “steep goals” with regards to reducing carbon emissions, and will need a qualified person to oversee the effort.

Board member Emma Behrens agreed, adding that the position itself has “provided (Hartford) with some cost savings,” and hiring a full-time employee may lead to more cost savings in the future.

Members also considered funding for information technology services, such as $14,000 for an iCloud backup for town files, and $1,300 for security awareness training, both of which were supported by board members.

Board members also spent a portion of the discussion considering whether to save for necessary Department of Public Works items, like highway equipment, plows and tractors, or pay for those through a bond.

But Ostrout warned against a bond, saying going to the taxpayers for pieces of road equipment is not common practice in Hartford.

“When you are bonding for equipment you need to have a useful life that will match the length of the bond, and most highway equipment does not meet that criteria. It’s usually seven years or less,” she said. Instead, she suggested the town look into leasing equipment or financing through a bank.

Another question arose over payment for town assessors, a category in which the town has gone over budget in recent years.

“At the rate we’re going, we will not have enough funding to do the reevaluation that we have,” Ostrout warned, suggesting that the town either scale back, or push off the worries until next year’s budget process.

Behrens suggested a slow, 25% reduction in assessing-related funding over the next four years to correct the error, a suggestion backed by town assessor Jeremiah Sund.

One of the more talked-about department budgets in previous meetings, the police department budget, which garnered a lot of input from some residents at its presentation in November, wasn’t touched on during the meeting Tuesday night.

Board members will meet again Dec. 15 to further discuss and finalize the budget proposal before it goes before voters at Town Meeting in March.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.