The informational portion of the Town Meeting will be held virtually via Google meet on Monday, Feb. 28, beginning at 7 p.m. Voting by Australian ballot on the town warning, including the budget, will be Tuesday, March 1, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the recreation center gymnasium.
WINDSOR — The proposed $5.74 million budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 will again reflect the desires of a majority of residents, who indicated in the annual survey that infrastructure repairs and equipment for town employees to do their job are priorities.
“As I explained to the board, and the reason there were probably not a lot of questions is because there has been a consistent message on the surveys,” Town Manager Tom Marsh said.
Marsh said about 90% of survey respondents want to see road and sidewalk improvements and want to be sure staff has the equipment they need for their jobs.
In his budget presentation to the Selectboard, Marsh identified the largest budget increases which included wages for previously negotiated wages and contractual increases, new ambulance payment, long-term debt service and payments for a dump truck and sidewalk tractor. Decreases in the budget include lease payment on a fire truck that has been paid off and health insurance premiums, which fell $38,000.
There are no new positions in the budget.
The proposed budget represents a nearly 3% increase, or $165,000, from the current year’s and would add 5 cents (3.13%) to the town tax rate, bringing it to $1.648 per $100 of assessed valuation and adding $100 in town taxes to a property assessed at $200,000.
Included in the budget total but voted on separately in individual warning articles is $185,000 in requests from 17 outside agencies, most of which provide social services.
The largest requests are for the Windsor Library and Windsor Cemetery Association.
The total amount is about $4,000 more than this year because of a $5,000 request from Rachel’s Kitchen, which did not receive any money for the current year.
In addition to the budget, the Selectboard is asking residents for authority to bond up to $1 million for road repairs and upgrades.
Similar to what voters approved several years ago, the approval is more like a line of credit the town can draw on when it sees the need.
“We won’t incur any cost (with the approval) until we draw the money,” Marsh said.
Voters will also be asked to approve a $2 million bond request for improvements of $1 million each for the public water and sewer systems.
Bond repayment would be the responsibility of the systems’ users.
In town elections, Tara Howard is running uncontested for a two-year Selectboard seat now held by Amanda Smith and Paul Woodman and Eric Saltonstall are candidates for the three-year seat of Michael McNaughton, who, like Smith, is not seeking re-election.
No one filed to run for town moderator or the three open listers seats.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
