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Select Board reviews budget showing 6.87% preliminary tax-rate increase
Summary
The Select Board reviewed a working budget that produced a 6.87% preliminary tax-rate increase; members discussed trimming expenses, seeking additional revenue (short-term CDs, higher interest/fees), and potential impacts from an $80,000 drop in pilot payments and FEMA buyout property changes.
Chair presented the board's working budget and said, "As it sits right now, it's 6.87% increase with the $5,000 reduction in sand," presenting that figure as the current projection to guide further discussion.
Board members discussed ways to lower the mill rate by increasing non-tax revenue and trimming expenses. Ideas discussed included short-term certificates of deposit to increase interest income, modest increases in fees, and reviewing the town's pilot payment (the town expects about $80,000 less than the prior year). The board also asked staff to provide a ballpark estimate of revenue impacts if FEMA buyout properties are removed from the tax roll, and to return to a special budget meeting with suggested cuts and revenue options.
The board agreed to give the town administrator and treasurer direction to investigate bank rates and CD strategies, to refine interest and fee line items, and to return with concrete proposals for the next meeting. Chair suggested prioritizing a set of cuts to reduce the projected increase and asked members to come prepared to discuss specific line-item reductions.
