NORWICH — The Selectboard on Wednesday is expected to approve a final budget proposal, which will go before voters at Town Meeting in March.
The board will consider a $7.38 million municipal operating budget to take effect July 1.
The spending plan is a 2.12% increase over the fiscal year 2026 budget, including $530,000 in expenses to be approved separately by voters.
Last year, Norwich voters approved a $6.72 million operating budget plus $507,000 in other expenses approved individually by voters, such as contributions to the Norwich Lions Club, library and social service agencies.
The budget increase is largely driven by rising health insurance costs and a 3.6% cost of living wage adjustment for employees plus a 2% step increase, according to meeting minutes from late October.
Health insurance has “gone up significantly, but not as significantly as it was initially proposed,” Town Manager Brennan Duffy said in a recording of a late October meeting that kicked off the budget process. Initially, Norwich was prepared for a 23% health insurance increase year-over-year, but the actual change is in the “low teens.”
The change is still a “big increase,” but is “a little more manageable than it could have been,” Duffy said.
Norwich also completed its first town-wide reappraisal since 2016 this summer that brought the total value of property in town up by 59% to $1.24 billion.
The town portion of the tax rate is currently 0.51 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
The budget to support the Police Department is on the rise, while that for the Department of Public Works is shrinking.
The Police Department makes up the second largest portion of the budget at $971,000, an 8% increase over last year.
The Department plans to purchase multiple pieces of new equipment next year, including electronic signs to notify drivers of road closures and impacts to driving for $25,000.
The department will also pull $60,000 from an existing designated fund for equipment for a cruiser being built.
Board member Matt Swett questioned whether purchasing the signs was a “want instead of a need,” in a recording of the last budget meeting on Dec. 17.
Swett said he likes seeing the more old-school sandwich board sign that is used to announce events and news in town and worried that an electronic message sign might not be in keeping with the “character of the town.”
Board Chairwoman Mary Layton agreed that she likes the more low-tech signs in town, but said that doesn’t mean the electronic signage is not a worthwhile purchase.
“If you saw it right in the middle of town, it would look ridiculous and it would be an eye-sore,” but such a sign might be useful outside of downtown Norwich, Layton said.
The purchase would also serve an important safety purpose, Town Manager Brennan Duffy successfully argued. Where and how the signage could be used is “more of a policy discussion” that the Selectboard plans to have in the future.
At the same Dec. 17 budget meeting, the Selectboard agreed to add $5,000 to the police budget for the department to purchase tasers.
Police Chief Matthew Romei advocated purchasing stun guns for each member of the Norwich police force, which currently has four officers.
Norwich police officers often work alone, so it is “important to give them less lethal capacities so they don’t have to escalate into a use of deadly force,” Romei told the Selectboard during the meeting.
When asked by the Selectboard, Romei, who has been in Norwich since 2023, confirmed that there have been incidents since he came to the town when tasers would have been used if they were available. He did not offer specifics.
The Department of Public Works budget, which at $2.78 million makes up the largest portion of town operating expenses, is proposed to decrease by almost 5% from the budget approved by voters last year. The fund covers expenses related to highways, solid waste and buildings and grounds.
Reductions include a 2% decrease in wages for road crew, which DPW Director Chris Kaufman said was because of fluctuation in staffing and staff experience, according to meeting minutes from mid-November.
The fund also includes a 35% decrease in contracted plowing and sanding, which Kaufman said was because of “increased staffing and experience,” and a 75% cut for large culvert projects.
The Selectboard is expected to approve a final budget Wednesday during a meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Tracy Hall.
A special meeting to approve all of the warrant articles for the 2026 Town Meeting ballot is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Town Meeting voting in Norwich will take place on Tuesday, March 3.