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Essex board reviews FY2027 budget with 2.59% projected tax-rate increase
Summary
Select Board members heard department-by-department presentations on the town's proposed FY2027 budget, which Town Manager Greg told the board shows a 2.59% projected tax-rate increase driven by salary contracts, capital policy changes and recalibrated utility and service budgets.
Town Manager Greg presented the Select Board with a proposed FY2027 budget that he said currently reflects a 2.59% projected tax-rate increase, a figure the administration attributes to a mix of negotiated salary changes, shifting capital funding and more accurate operating projections.
"I present you with something that is a 2.59% projected tax rate increase," Greg told the board as the budget work session began. He said costs have been eased in part by voters' prior approval of a two-cent capital tax and by reductions in transfers from operating to capital that together lowered the operating burden by about $216,000. The manager's memo also pointed to a renegotiated assessment split with Essex Junction and modest vacancy allowances as factors in the numbers.
Finance Director Dan and department heads walked the board through major cost drivers. Police department leaders said a union contract and market adjustments for sworn staff are the largest single operating pressure; the police presentation also requested funding for new body cameras, tasers and vehicle replacements. Public works described a plan to consolidate summer stormwater construction into the highway maintenance account and emphasized a five-year pavement strategy to avoid costlier full-depth repairs. Parks and Recreation outlined investments in software, pool upgrades and a proposal to resume a mailed brochure to boost program participation.
Several departments showed recalibrations of utility and operating lines. For example, fire department staff and finance explained a marked increase in professional-services line items driven by a new consolidated records-management and federal reporting system; the fire department also flagged upcoming one-time costs for air-pack hydrostatic testing. Public works and facilities staff said they had revisited electric and natural gas projections after reviewing meter data and invoices and that several building HVAC systems will now be on multi-year service contracts to reduce the risk of large capital failures.
Board members pressed for clarity on several recurring issues: the town's long-term plan for road and bridge maintenance, how stormwater projects will be prioritized to meet lake-restoration goals, and whether printed outreach (a parks brochure) is an appropriate use of limited general-fund dollars. Several members asked finance to test more conservative interest-income and penalty-income assumptions given recent market moves.
Next steps: staff will continue to refine line items, prepare more detailed capital estimates and return with revised numbers for the board's further review ahead of budget hearings. The board did not take final votes at the session; formal adoption and public hearings remain on the schedule.
