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Budget committee approves amended May minutes; resident urges clearer budget-change figures
Summary
The York Budget Committee approved amended May minutes and heard public comment from resident Bill Goodwin, who urged clearer presentation of budget-change figures (he cited an 8.6% expenditure increase and a 9.5% voting-budget spread, and criticized a circulated 7.5% figure as not a valid measure). The committee said it will post final post-vote numbers and explore clearer public materials.
The York Budget Committee voted to approve the May 2026 minutes as amended and addressed a public comment calling for clearer presentation of how the town’s budget change is calculated.
Bill Goodwin, a resident who identified himself during public comment, said the town’s published figures could be read several ways. "If you look at total expenditures on the website, you get an 8.6% increase," Goodwin said, and he added that the voting guide’s spread could be about "9.5%" when comparing the voting budget extremes. He told the committee a 7.5% figure circulating online was not an appropriate measure of overall budget change and urged members to be careful when posting numbers on social media.
The acting chair responded that public comment is designed for remarks rather than back-and-forth dialogue but acknowledged the committee needs clearer post-vote materials. "We only work off of the official published numbers," the chair said, and the committee discussed posting a clear, final set of numbers after votes are certified to reduce confusion between "expenditure increases" and "expenditures net the revenue increase." Members also noted the YouTube recordings with timestamps help the public find specific discussions.
The motion to approve the May minutes as amended passed with recorded affirmative votes from Adam, Amanda, Chris and the acting chair.
The committee flagged that more work is needed to make meeting materials and final budget figures easier for the public to find and understand; they agreed to follow up on ways to present a single post-vote summary of how the final budget change was calculated.
