Brentwood leaders explain budget steps, fund-balance use and how estimates affect tax bills

Summary

Select Board members and residents debated town budgeting steps, how leftover funds (fund balance) are used to lower taxes and which estimates will appear at town meeting. Officials and the budget committee gave differing estimates of fund-balance offsets and revenue, prompting calls for clearer, shared numbers before voters decide.

The Brentwood Select Board and residents spent much of a public meeting outlining the town budget process and debating how fund balance and revenue estimates affect taxpayers.

Select Board member Letty said the municipal budget process begins with department heads submitting preliminary budgets and the select board then reviewing those requests before the budget committee produces the official number presented to taxpayers. “Because Brentwood has a municipal budget committee, that means that the official budget comes from the budget committee,” Letty said, describing the sequence of department presentation, select-board review, and budget-committee finalization.

Why it matters: residents said they need consistent, auditable estimates in the materials voters receive. That is particularly urgent because the amount of fund balance the town applies to offset taxes can materially change the…

Brentwood leaders explain budget steps, fund-balance use and how estimates affect tax bills

Summary

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