Members Present: Chairman Cary Hughes, Bill Keefe, Donald Davidson, Stuart Draper, Joyce Fisk, and Kyra Brennan.
The meeting was called to order at 7:15 PM.
The purpose of this meeting was to review the budget and make any changes or cuts where we felt we could. There were also a few items that we needed to approve. The intent of the committee was to keep taxes level or lower than last year because of the current economic situation.
Charlie McGettigan had spoken to Stuart and asked that the $500 a year that he receives as welfare agent be increased to $1000. The amount of time he spends in this capacity has increased considerably over the years. $500 was added to the Town Officers Salaries line, bringing it to $7,850.
The quote for the Tax Maps has been received. These need to be updated for the revaluation. The Town Office Expense line was increased by $1,200, bringing it to $171,030.
The Highway Department Capital Equipment line was cut by $21,000. This amount will be carried over from last year as encumbered funds. They will still have the full $63,000 to spend.
The parking lot of the new Police Station was discussed. The Wilton Main Street Association owns the Wilton Falls Building. They are responsible for 40 parking spaces in the lot. They do not have the funds to pay for their portion of the paving of this lot. It was proposed that the $10,000 that was requested by the Main Street Association be moved to the Emergency Services Building line. This would be considered a donation in kind to the Main Street Association and pay for their portion of paving the lot. $75,000 is most likely needed to finish the police station and lot. After much discussion, it was motioned, seconded and approved. The Main Street request is still in the proposed budget. This will allow them to address the funding issue at the public budget hearing next Tuesday.
It is our understanding that the $8000 requested by the Conservation Commission for the Trail Easements is not needed until 2004. We are leaving the $1.00 in the budget to show our support for this project. The Conservation Commission has applied for a grant to offset the $8000.
The Sources of Revenue were discussed. It was decided to use $200,000 from surplus to offset the Appropriations. This would allow us to keep the taxes to be raised in line with last year and still keep the surplus at a level acceptable to the DRA. After adjustments to the budget worksheet, the total taxes to be raised came in at $1,437,727. This was slightly lower than last year’s figure of $1,484,007. It was decided to keep the budget at this lower figure for the public hearing.
Next year’s budget season was discussed. The intent is to get started earlier. We would like to see all Capital requests in the fall. We would like to meet once early in the year and set a schedule. We will then notify all department heads to make them aware we need numbers earlier.
Kyra L Brennan