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Selectmen approve multiple department budgets, cut Old Home Week fireworks from '26 request
Summary
At the Oct. 14 meeting the board approved a batch of 2026 operating and program budgets and amended the patriotic/fireworks line to prioritize July 4 displays and remove Old Home Week fireworks; several small departmental budgets were approved by motion.
The Alton Board of Selectmen on Oct. 14 approved a series of 2026 departmental budgets and amended the town’s patriotic/fireworks request to prioritize the Fourth of July display while removing the Old Home Week fireworks.
Staff and department representatives reviewed small or administrative budgets in alphabetical order. The board approved the following as presented or amended (motions and results recorded during the meeting): assessing ($176,386), audio-visual ($2,000), Budget Committee (level funded), Conservation Commission ($24,060), Emergency Management ($11,003), Museum/Town Hall historic area ($8,444), Household Hazardous Waste program ($27,568), short-term interest (token $1 line), street lights ($33,500), and Welfare ($35,158). The board approved the Assessing budget after discussion about contracted services for mapping and reval work.
On patriotic/fireworks spending, staff reported the prior default budget did not include funding for both displays. The initial 2026 request included $22,500 for the Fourth of July display and $12,000 for Old Home Week. After discussion about limited participation in Old Home Week and the difficulty of securing bids for July 4 weekend, a motion passed to remove Old Home Week fireworks and advance a $23,690 request focused on the Fourth of July display (the motion amended the patriotic/patriotic purposes line accordingly).
Several other routine line items and small budgets were approved on voice votes during the meeting. Board members were advised they could table larger budgets (police, DPW, fire) for separate sessions. The board recorded motions and voice votes for each budget line in the meeting record; most small-budget motions passed on unanimous voice votes. Staff said some budget lines represent pass-through or grant-funded accounts and explained increases where applicable (e.g., assessing contracted services for revaluation and map updates, conservation lake monitoring).
