Board of Finance approves DMV lookup line, trims planner pay and makes other budget adjustments in workshop

At a special Board of Finance budget workshop on March 18, members approved a new $380 line to give the Board of Assessment Appeals access to a state motor-vehicle lookup service, trimmed a proposed town-planner salary to $25,000 at 19 hours per week, and made multiple other small cuts and adjustments as they refined the town’s draft 2026–27 budget.

The Board unanimously approved adding a “DMV lookup access” line after a representative for the Board of Assessment Appeals explained the need during public comment: “What we're doing is we're just trying to affirm that the budget request made from our meeting on 09/15/2025 was adopted and put into place,” the representative said, and described training and lookup costs that together totalled about $1,905 with the lookup portion at $380. The motion to add the line passed by roll call, 7–0.

Members also debated a proposed $30,000 planner/project-manager line and whether to set the role at 19 or 20 hours (20 hours would have triggered benefits). Concerned about triggering benefit costs immediately, a…