Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Canterbury Board of Finance to send revised budgets to town meeting; sets mill rate at 17.52
Summary
At a special meeting, the Canterbury Board of Finance voted to send revised town, capital and education budgets to a June town meeting and a July referendum, setting a proposed mill rate of 17.52 and authorizing a draw from the unassigned fund balance to lower the tax increase.
The Canterbury Board of Finance voted at a special meeting to send revised town, capital improvement and education budgets to the town meeting and a July referendum and set a proposed mill rate of 17.52.
Board members put the town government budget at $3,725,073 and the capital improvement plan at $446,858. The education budget recorded in the motion was presented as $13,681,819. The motion as read also authorized using $1,017,764 from the unassigned fund balance to reduce the tax impact. The motion carried by voice vote among members present.
Board members reached the decision after reviewing a worksheet that tested shifting cuts across town operations, CIP and education. Finance staff and the first selectman ran scenarios that combined small mill-rate adjustments with targeted CIP reductions — examples discussed included trimming a street-sweeper purchase, adjusting a plow/sander lease and deferring nonessential municipal capital items — to lower the proposed increase to a level the board judged more likely to pass at referendum.
First Selectman Chris and finance staff emphasized the need to preserve cash for capital projects that require upfront payments, such as bridge work, and warned that some reimbursements from state or federal grants arrive only after work is complete. That cash-flow constraint was cited as a reason to avoid drawing down reserve levels too far.
Public comment during the meeting included a warning from one resident that a mill rate above 16.75 could provoke a defeat at referendum and requests that the town publish line-item worksheets so voters can see where cuts were made. The board confirmed planned scheduling: the town meeting will be held in late June and the referendum in early July; absentee ballots will be available at the town clerk’s office.
The board said the revised packages will go to town meeting for consideration and then to a referendum as required by local procedure. The board plans to post supporting charts and worksheets online to provide factual context for voters before the town meeting and referendum.
Next steps: the board will finalize the paperwork to place the budgets on the town meeting warrant and staff will publish the worksheets and absentee-ballot procedures ahead of the scheduled votes.
