HARTFORD — The Selectboard proposed a tentative town budget that would raise property taxes by about 0.2% Tuesday night.
The $22.1 million spending plan is for fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1. Voters will vote it up or down in March.
The amount raised by local property taxes would be $19.8 million, the Selectboard determined Tuesday after a more than three-hour long discussion.
This was a particularly challenging budgeting process in Hartford following the first town-wide reappraisal in eight years. Property values went up 86% on average.
“Affordability is not a hoax. Inflation’s still out there. We’ve got the school budget looming,” Vice Chairman Mike Hoyt said during the meeting. “The revaluation was frankly psychologically traumatizing to homeowners in the town.”
The final budget plan that goes before voters in March could include tweaks if there are petitioned warrant articles. Hartford’s warrant information night will be Jan. 12, and the Selectboard is scheduled to finalize the proposed budget for the ballot on Jan. 20.
At the beginning of the budget process, the Selectboard directed town staff to present budgets representing no more than a 4% increase to their department budget.
Hoyt, along with other members of the board, advocated for using as much of the town’s unassigned fund balance as possible to offset the tax burden.
Town Manager John Haverstock initially proposed a $23.4 million spending plan with $19.6 million to be raised by property taxes.
Cost drivers include a 4% wage increase for town employees, a 2% increase in health insurance expenses and debt service.
After presentations from each of Hartford’s department heads, the Selectboard opted to add several items to the budget this month, including allocations for a facilities manager position, police and dispatch equipment and funding two operator positions for the Department of Public Works.
They offset some of these additions by cutting $15,000 for cameras for the information technology department and $100,000 of the paving budget.
The final projected tax rate impact was determined, mostly, by how the Selectboard opted to use revenues to offset the budget.
The group will use $1.2 million from Hartford’s rainy day fund and an estimated $1.1 million in local option sales tax revenue to offset the tax burden. Hartford voters approved the implementation of a 1% local option sales tax at the 2025 Town Meeting with the provision that all of it would be used to offset taxes.
The board also discussed recommended uses for Hartford’s Local Option Tax, collected on meals, rooms and alcohol sales in town. It is typically $350,000 and voters will approve or reject individual allocations from this fund in March.
The group discussed using $215,000 from this fund to cover appropriations otherwise included in the operating budget.
The most expensive on the list, each between $50,000 and $57,000, were for buying construction equipment for the Department of Public Works, purchasing replacement radios for the fire and police departments, and resurfacing tennis and pickleball courts.
The budget proposal does not include an allocation for the town’s curbside recycling program, which the Selectboard eliminated in a controversial move this spring.
The group will discuss adding a separate warrant article that would resurrect the program at a separate meeting at 6 p.m. Dec. 30 at Hartford Town Hall.