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Glocester council approves multiple budget amendments, sets May 4 special meeting
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Summary
At a public hearing on April 20, the Glocester Town Council approved several budget amendments — including reserve funds for town hall and paving, step increases, and targeted pay adjustments — and scheduled a May 4 special meeting to finalize totals for the May referendum.
The Glocester Town Council approved a series of line-item changes to the proposed 2026–27 budget during a public hearing on April 20 and set a special meeting for Monday, May 4, to finalize the bottom-line numbers the town will send to the state for the May 19 referendum.
Councilor Burlingame opened the hearing and described the process for reviewing proposed changes and adopting ballot questions. Early in the session the council voted to set aside $107,906 — the town’s prorated share following a Foster–Glocester regional finance vote — in a reserve account rather than remove regional operations from the budget. “We put [the amount] in a reserve fund in case the voters don’t reduce it,” a councilor explained during the hearing.
Council members then approved three special appropriations: a $25,000 reserve for future town-hall maintenance, a $25,000 reserve for paving, and a $6,000 increase in the animal-control officer salary line. Each motion was moved, seconded, and approved by voice vote.
On personnel matters, the council debated reductions to proposed nonunion raises and the treatment of hourly nonunion employees before approving a bundled motion that eliminated one longevity payment for a departing senior clerk and set a 3% increase for certain nonunion salary lines, with related adjustments to fringe and health-benefit lines. The council also approved step or promotion increases for a tax-assessor clerk, a tax-collector clerk and finance-office staff; members identified a roughly 13.9% increase in health-insurance costs as a primary driver of the budget increase.
The council restored $32,973 in fringe benefits for the building official after that position returned to full-time status; members said the change affects benefits lines but does not change base salary.
During the hearing councilors repeatedly sought small savings in operating accounts — for example, outside-assessment services, emergency-management expenses, and sand/salt — while acknowledging some amounts remain uncertain because bills are pending. Finance staff reported the town’s fund balance as roughly 14.6% of the proposed budget if the council did not use any of it, and members emphasized the tension between funding services and keeping taxes affordable.
Residents also spoke during the public-comment portion. Resident Dave Steer asked whether the $107,906 reserve reduced operations spending or was simply set aside; council staff confirmed the operations line remains shown in the budget and the amount was placed in a set-aside. Janice School of Putnam Pike questioned a $25,000 police sound-dampening request and a nearly 13% increase in the town-solicitor line; councilors said the solicitor increase largely reflects anticipated litigation and the canvassers line rose because it is an election year.
The council tabled items 9 and 12 for further review, scheduled a special meeting for Monday, May 4 at 7 p.m. to allow staff time to recalculate salary lines, and adjourned the hearing.
Next steps: finance staff will rework salary lines and return figures at the special meeting so the council can transmit final totals and ballot questions to the state by the required deadline.
