WEATHERSFIELD — Voters are scheduled to head to the polls to weigh in on revised budgets for the general fund and highway and two capital expenditures in a special town meeting on Tuesday.
Officials reduced the proposals following their defeat at the regularly scheduled Town Meeting vote on March 2.
In a message to residents on the town website, Town Manager Brandon Gulnick said he and the Selectboard took a more “balanced approach” to both the general fund and highway budgets following the defeats on Town Meeting Day.
“Our goal has been to strike a responsible balance between maintaining service levels, addressing rising costs, responding to voter feedback, and limiting the tax impact as much as possible,” Gulnick wrote.
If both budgets are approved, they would add about $90 in annual taxes on a home assessed at $214,000.
The new general fund budget of just over $2 million reflects a 2.8% increase from the current year. That is down 1.4%, or about $26,000, from the 4.2% increase in the budget of $2.05 million proposed by the Selectboard and rejected by voters 450-257 in March.
“Targeted reductions” included shared services budgets such as office supplies, postage, software, training and land record supplies, elimination of the Land Use Assistant position, reduction in transfers, fire truck repair funding and cuts to trustee expenditures for office supplies, programs and media in the library budget, according to Gulnick.
The Highway Fund budget has been reduced by $9,000 to $1.3 million. The increase from this year is 1.47% as opposed to the 2.2% increase in the proposed $1.31 million budget that voters defeated 352-346 on Town Meeting Day.
The highway department maintains 13.5 miles of paved roads and 56.33 miles of gravel roads with responsibilities that include snow and ice removal, grading, pavement repair, maintenance of traffic control signs, ditching, installation and maintenance of culvert systems, roadside mowing, and bridge and drainage infrastructure support, Gulnick said in his explanation to residents on the town’s website.
“Targeted adjustments” to the highway budget included cuts to supplies, parts, and fluids, non-vehicle repairs, paving, salt, gravel and chloride, Gulnick said.
Also on the special town meeting warning is a revised appropriation of $75,000 for a cab and chassis unit for the fire department’s 2006 Ford F-350 brush truck. The original request of $100,000 was defeated 361-342. The revised article uses more of the existing reserve fund and requires less in taxes, Gulnick said.
“This approach allows us to significantly reduce the overall cost of replacement while still providing a safe, reliable, and fully functional vehicle for our firefighters,” Gulnick said. “It’s a practical investment that balances fiscal responsibility with the need to maintain dependable emergency services for our community.”
Finally, a $292,000 appropriation for the Highway Motorized Equipment reserve fund has been cut almost in half to $150,000. On March 2, voters defeated the original proposal, 432-273.
Instead of replacing a grader, the article now proposes to replace the town’s 2012 tandem axle plow truck and a 2016 Ford Pickup Truck. Both vehicles have increasingly costly maintenance issues, Gulnick said.
“These replacements are intended to improve reliability, increase operational efficiency, and reduce long-term maintenance costs,” Gulnick said.
A grader replacement has been delayed to next year to reduce this year’s tax impact.
Also on Town Meeting Day, Weathersfield voters rejected a proposed $9.95 million school budget. Last month, voters approved a reduced school budget of $9.8 million.
The informational meeting is Saturday, May 16 beginning at 12:30 p.m. at the Weathersfield School. Ballot voting is Tuesday, May 19 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Martin Memorial Hall.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
