Whitefield’s budget committee wrestled Tuesday with a more than $600,000 drop in revenue since last year and how to build a responsible budget in spite of it. Much of the pain will come from having no school budget carryover, which was $390,000 this year.
Glancing over the expenses selectmen presented in their initial $1 million request, several committee members agreed with Barry Tibbetts’ prediction about preparing for town meeting: “I have a gnawing feeling it’s not going to be business as usual.”
Despite including $120,000 from surplus, the spending plan would likely require higher taxes and push the mil rate close to 23.4. It is currently 17.5.
“I think a tax increase is unavoidable,” Tibbetts said. “There’s no way we can function as a municipality without it.”
A $150,000 revaluation, which many taxpayers called for following last year’s unpopular and vehemently protested assessment, is not in the budget. Instead, said chairman of the selectmen’s board Steve McCormick, “We’ll start setting money aside next year to do it.” The reevaluation would take 18 months to complete.
The selectmen voided the tax commitment last October. However, McCormick added, 75 percent of the assessment “won’t change very much. The values of the buildings were not out of line as much as people thought. It’s just that properties hadn’t been assessed in so long.”
The 2010-11 budget proposal is virtually flat, less than $2000 higher than the current year’s budget.
Reviewing the approximately $40,000 initial down payment on a requested central fire station loan, Frank Ober said a taxpayer told him he wouldn’t vote for any capital improvements until he knew what his taxes would be.
Discussion about a $70,000 fire truck grant, which North Whitefield Volunteer Fire Dept. applied for, set Lester Sheaffer scrambling to find the $20,000 match the grant requires the town to make. He suggested cutting all the charity requests ($9000) except for the local food bank and taking $3000 from each fire association.
Budget committee members indicated they agreed with Louis Sell that turning down the truck would send a negative message to the North Whitefield firefighters.
Other thoughts about cuts included eliminating paving ($90,000) and surfacing ($12,500), and reducing town office hours or a position.
Brian Huntley said that even if each of the three fire associations had to take $3000 less than the $16,000 proposed, the reduction would not begin to bridge the gap.
He expressed concern about the eight percent growth rate in the fire equipment and service budget in recent years. “That’s a lot of growth,” compared to that of the school budget, which has risen in the two to three percent range, he said.
Committee chair Bill Brooke asked the selectmen to come to next week’s meeting with two scenarios: a 10 percent cut and a 20 percent cut in each account. He also asked for the actual amount of dollars in surplus and what amount the town needs to have on hand to make payments for three months, as recommended by the auditor.
Fire personnel will be asked to attend the session, which will be held Tues., Feb. 2 at the town office beginning at 7 p.m. The last budget committee meeting, when members will vote, is scheduled for Mon., Feb. 8 during the selectmen’s regular meeting.
