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Mount Vernon budget committee sets public‑comment rules and schedule for fire and rescue presentations
Summary
The Mount Vernon Budget Committee agreed to hold department presentations and committee deliberations before opening public comment, plan two public hearings for the fire and rescue budget (one weeknight, one weekend), and post working materials online; the committee emphasized the group only makes recommendations — town meeting votes.
The Mount Vernon Budget Committee on Thursday laid out procedures for how it will handle upcoming departmental budget presentations and public comment, and set a timetable for the fire and rescue budget to be presented and reviewed.
Committee members agreed presentations from department leads will come first, followed by committee questions and deliberations; public comment will be opened only after the committee finishes its review. The chair said questions from the public will be directed to the chair for moderation so presenters are not ambushed during their volunteer presentation time, and the committee will determine on the spot whether a question can be answered that night or should be deferred to a subsequent meeting.
The committee also discussed how warrant articles will be presented to town meeting. Rather than voting line by line on every departmental subaccount, members said the warrant will show a department’s total budget at the top and supporting spreadsheets will be available to explain line‑level detail. That means town meeting votes the total department or town administration budget while printed backup will show what each line item covers.
A working PowerPoint and a presentation spreadsheet will be posted on the town website after the fire and rescue presentation is finalized. Committee members supported scheduling two public hearings for the fire and rescue budget — one on a weeknight and one on a weekend — to give residents more opportunities to attend before the committee finalizes its recommendations to the select board and the budget is taken up at town meeting.
The committee reiterated its role is advisory: formal adoption of budget amounts occurs at town meeting and the select board will draft and post warrant articles. Staff were asked to post the first draft of materials online and to prepare consolidated percent‑change figures for municipal‑only items to help members and the public see how municipal operations are trending independent of school and county figures.
