Budget Committee backs $10.77 million operating budget after line-item scrutiny

The Farmington Budget Committee on Feb. 11 recommended a $10,770,311 general municipal operating budget for 2026, approving the article 7-1 with committee member Rebecca Varney opposed.

Interim Finance Administrator Kelly Heon told the committee the operating bottom line had been corrected in the warrant to $9,471,726.32 — "which is 7.91% increase over last year's budget," she said — and then walked members through department-level changes that produced the final figure.

Members questioned several personnel and one-time cost decisions. Heon said the Town Administrator line rose $15,000 to match a negotiated contract for a new hire and that the Selectmen's secretary position was upgraded from part-time to full-time, driving that line to $41,000. Heon described a new staffing approach in the finance office: "We were not successful in hiring a Finance Administrator so we've decided to hire a Finance Assistant," she said, noting a separate $60,000 finance-assistant line and a $100,000 line for the administrator role that accounts for potential contracted services.

Other significant changes included moving an Assessing Clerk to full time (previously split with Building), a $10,300 annual assessing-software line after conversion costs, and a consolidated $100,000 estimate for legal services now billed hourly rather than on retainer.

Selectmen and committee members probed the Fire Department and Highway budgets. Charlie King, a Selectman, said the fire budget is built for five full-time positions but only three are currently staffed; overtime expenditures that exceeded the 2025 budget line prompted questions about whether a $30,000 overtime appropriation is adequate after $63,000 was spent in 2025. King said scheduling changes later in 2025 helped lower overtime needs. On roads, members discussed a $500,000 paving budget and the long-term need to increase road funding while balancing other capital needs.

Heon told the committee many 2025 expenditures were still being finalized and some figures shown were not updated through year-end; she said updated figures would be available before the tax-rate setting process in late summer. The committee recommended the operating budget with one dissenting vote. The recommendation now goes to the voters as part of the Town warrant; the Budget Committee will meet again Feb. 24 and the warrant proceeds to the Deliberative Session and Town Meeting schedules.