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Canterbury selectmen approve cuts to meet 17.52 mill-rate target, forward budgets to town meeting and referendum
Summary
On June 23, 2026 the Canterbury Board of Selectmen approved line-item cuts to the capital improvement and general government budgets to meet a 17.52 mill-rate target and voted to send the revised budgets to a town meeting on June 30 and a referendum on July 8. A resident criticized the timing and transparency of decisions during public comment.
Canterbury board members moved on June 23 to reduce the town’s capital improvement and general government spending to meet a mill-rate target of 17.52 and voted to forward the revised budgets to a town meeting on June 30, 2026 and a referendum on July 8.
A presenter told the selectmen the Board of Finance requested cuts totaling $29,622 from the general government budget and $58,745 from the capital improvement (CIP) budget to reach the 17.52 mills target. Officials said the town’s CIP request for fiscal year 2026–27 has been reduced to $446,858. Line-item reductions discussed at the meeting included a $10,000 cut to the street sweeper request (down to $40,000), a mid-size pickup reduced to $6,655 (from $10,000), the bus request reduced to $100,000 (from $120,000), fire/rescue equipment cut from $75,000 to $60,000, and BMS blacktop funding reduced from $17,653 to $7,653.
In the general government budget, staff reported a reduction in paid ambulance staffing from 155 to 135 (the transcript did not specify the unit of measure) and a reduction in refuse/waste funding reported in the meeting as $328,397; those adjustments were presented as part of the measures intended to meet the $29,622 target the Board of Finance requested.
After a motion and second, the board voted to move the revised budgets forward to the June 30 town meeting and the July 8 referendum; members present voiced support during the roll call. The transcript records members saying "I" or "Aye" when asked for votes; individual board vote names were not recorded in the meeting text.
During public comment, resident Rima Shores of 536 Elizabeth Road criticized holding substantive decision-making before public comment and argued the town’s statutes and ordinances define the governing body and do not authorize hiring an outside administrator without changing the ordinance. "If you're going to have a strict policy of public participation only after decisions have been made, it's going to suggest that the people involved in the meeting be the people we elected, not somebody you hired," she said. Shores also urged the selectmen to provide reconciliations of prior CIP spending and to consider using available CIP balances or short-term borrowing rather than additional long-term borrowing for a bridge project.
The board set the town meeting for June 30, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. and a referendum for Wednesday, July 8 (registrars reported availability), with polling hours discussed as 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Members moved to adjourn and the meeting was called at 7:17 p.m.
Mary Coury identified herself at the end of the meeting as the regional town administrator, saying she provides services to Canterbury, Chaplin and Pomfret.
