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Morristown manager calls budget "draconian" as revenue drops push 9% warrant increase
Summary
Town Manager Brent presented a proposed FY26–27 town budget that holds operating base spending nearly flat but faces large revenue declines (current-use/Hold Harmless and other receipts), driving a 9% warrant increase and program changes including a recommended pause to the summer recreation program.
Town Manager Brent presented a detailed managerproposed FY26–27 budget at the Dec. 8 Select Board meeting, warning that sustained revenue declines and rising costs for insurance, legal services and deferred-maintenance needs would create a difficult fiscal year. Brent described the budget as "draconian," saying the proposal keeps the operating-base budget under a half-percent growth while the total warrant would rise about 9% because of projected revenue shortfalls.
Brent detailed specific pressures: insurance premiums are projected to rise about 20% (from roughly $488,000 to $586,000), the towns Current Use/Hold Harmless payment dropped from about $392–$393k (FY24) to $247,320 received for FY25 and Brent budgets $250,000 for FY26–27, a projected $140,000 reduction from prior expectations. He also said the unassigned fund balance fell to about $647,450 as of 06/30/2025 after drawing $500,000 in the current year.
On capital and deferred maintenance, Brent described a five-year roads and bridges plan: Morristown has 36.8 miles of paved roads with roughly 15.6 miles in poor or very poor condition; the highway superintendent estimated ~$620k–$627k needed for paving next year and roughly $175k for sidewalks, leaving an approximate net need of $641k (minus grants). Brent said the town is pursuing grants aggressively and has secured roughly $500k in recent awards for ditching, culverts and paving work.
Department highlights included a projected 5.67% increase for Police, a 3.5% increase for EMS (~$38k), and a highway budget reduction of about 3% due to prior one-time changes. Brent said switching health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont to MVP should yield roughly a 10.3% savings. He also recommended not running the summer recreation program next year because of staffing and cost issues and suggested the Select Board consider a votersreferendum for any library appropriation beyond CPI (2.8%).
Next steps: the Select Board scheduled additional budget discussion (a dedicated session on Dec. 29) and asked administration and department heads to continue follow-up on grants, contract negotiations and any revenue options (including a local-option tax). No final budget vote occurred at the Dec. 8 meeting.
Direct quotes (examples): Brent said the proposed budget was "draconian" and reiterated the need to work with neighboring towns and partners to control costs while addressing 15 years of deferred maintenance.
