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Woodbridge selectmen approve transfers to cover legal fees, police retro pay and other shortages
Summary
The Woodbridge Board of Selectmen on July 8 approved multiple contingency and line-item transfers to cover legal fees and retroactive police pay, and accepted smaller transfers for library electricity and senior center meal supplies after hearing the finance director’s year-end report showing a modest surplus.
The Woodbridge Board of Selectmen approved a series of funding moves on July 8 to close shortfalls in the town budget, including transfers to cover legal fees and a roughly $290,000 shift to pay retroactive police contract obligations.
Finance Director Tony Genovese presented a preliminary year-end report showing “the year end surplus is just under a $100,000,” and that tax receipts and several department savings produced revenue improvements. He told the board the town collected more back taxes than expected and had unanticipated permit fees that boosted revenues.
Despite those gains, Genovese said the Board of Selectmen’s budget faced a legal-fees deficit and the police budget needed additional funding because the FY26 budgeted salaries reflected 2023 wage levels while the new contract required retroactive pay. To address the shortfalls, the board approved a contingency request and related line-item transfers totaling $87,000 to cover litigation costs and a separate line-item transfer of $290,000 to fund retroactive pay and settlements in the police budget. Genovese said the $290,000 represented three years of wage increases accounted for by the recent contract.
The board also approved a $4,800 transfer to cover a shortfall in the library electricity account and authorized $19,700 to shift supplies funding to support an in-house senior center meal program that replaced an outside vendor.
Board members asked about contingency and fund-balance levels; Genovese explained that the town budgets an $800,000 figure as part of overall fund-balance calculations and that some budgeted amounts represent internal transfers rather than new external revenue. Several motions to approve the identified transfers were made and the chair said, “Motion carries,” after each vote.
What happens next: the transfers become part of the town’s FY26 accounting and the board will monitor whether litigation or other costs require further adjustments in future budgets.
