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Budget Review Committee approves operating budgets, sends Town Clerk revenue proposal back to Select Board
Summary
At its Feb. 11 meeting the Budget Review Committee approved a series of operating budgets covering finance, debt service, public operations and the cable studio while voting down the Town Clerk revenue proposal so the Select Board can consider lodging license fee changes.
The Budget Review Committee voted on a package of departmental operating budgets and related items at its Feb. 11, 2026 meeting, approving most spending proposals and returning the Town Clerk revenue plan to the Select Board for further consideration.
The committee approved motions to fund finance operations ($100,150), debt service ($1,660,863), cable TV studio ($27,000, revised), employee benefits ($9,000), insurance ($1,061,815), labor and employee relations ($36,000), assessing operations ($16,600), the Information Center ($68,152) and several other departmental operating budgets. Most motions passed unanimously 7-0; the Information Center and the Town Clerk revenues vote produced split tallies.
Why it matters: these votes set spending and revenue assumptions used to prepare the town's FY budget and identify items that require additional policy decisions. Returning the Town Clerk revenue proposal to the Select Board means the local governing board will consider possible changes to lodging license fees before that revenue is finalized.
Key votes and figures - Town Clerk revenues: Committee member David MacKenzie moved to vote down the Town Clerk revenues budget so the Select Board could review lodging license fees; Bill Wade seconded. The motion passed 6-1, sending the revenue proposal back to the Select Board for further consideration. - Town Clerk operations: The committee approved Town Clerk operations of $24,950 (moved by Richard Debold, seconded by Bob Mulcahy), 7-0. Richard Debold said operations "went up by less than 1%." - Information Center: Ron Schneider summarized the Information Center request and said "the shared agreement between the town and Chamber has always been a 40% contribution from the Town." The committee approved operations of $68,152, 6-1. - Finance revenues and operations: Finance Director Jodie Sanborn explained revenue changes and said "Cable TV revenue is down because more people are moving to streaming services." The committee approved Finance operations of $100,150 and total revenues of $6,488,218, 7-0. - Debt service: Sanborn said the town has three outstanding bonds and a AA+ rating. Debt service of $1,660,863 was approved, 7-0. - Cable TV: Town Manager Mike Pardue requested additional funding after equipment failures; the committee approved a revised Cable TV operations budget of $27,000 (moved by Mark Bagdasarian, seconded by Adam Bloom-Paicopolos), 7-0.
Other procedural and administrative notes - Assessing: Operations of $16,600 were approved; the department reported a roughly 8% increase led by higher vendor costs for tax map updates. - Insurances: Committee members discussed whether the town could bypass a broker; Pardue said the town "can go out to bid sometime in the future." The insurances budget passed 7-0. - Grants and Code & Planning: The committee moved the Code and Planning enterprise review to Feb. 25; grant and social services materials will be distributed in print and electronically for member review.
The committee adjourned after approving the listed budgets and administrative motions. The Code & Planning enterprise item will be on the Feb. 25 agenda for further review.
