The Town’s 2024-25 proposed budget is in its final stretch, as the Legislative Council began its review at a meeting on March 13.

The council’s review marks the last round of reviews of the budget by town boards before going before the public for a vote on the third Tuesday in April.

Following the Board of Finance’s review, the bottom line for the Board of Education went to $88,817,373, a $3,747,722 or 4.4% increase over last year. The Board of Education had approved a $89,826,756, a $4,747,105 or 5.56% increase. The municipal budget was approved by the BOF without cuts to its bottom line of $48,834,506, a $1,308,366 or 2.75 percent spending increase.

The overall budget currently stands at $137,651,879, a $5,056,088 or 3.7% spending increase. The mill rate is currently proposed to increase from 26.24 to 27.24, a 1 mill or 3.82% tax increase.

The council has already had a number of subcommittee meetings to discuss various parts of the budget, and the subcommittee chairs reported on issues they discussed at the various meetings. It was discussed that the chairs would make sure to put the questions asked with the full answers in writing into the minutes of each of those meetings, to ensure that the full council had all the information it needs as well as making sure to recognize differing opinions among councilmen attending those subcommittee meetings.

At a presentation, BOF Chairman Jim Gaston and Vice-Chairman Steven Goodridge went over the high points of the discussions at their level, noting the multiple votes it took for them to arrive at a final number.

Goodridge said their board had “good discussions” and noted concerns among some finance board members that during the last three years, the Board of Education budget had increased by approximately $10 million, while in the previous 10 years the budget had increased by $13 million, and that the taxpayers could not keep up with a budget that was increasing at that pace.

“The budget could get to be too much that people are not able to keep up with the expense,” said Goodridge.

That concern led to the finance board moving approximately $1 million from the school budget, paying for part of it with Capital Non-Recurring Fund money and cutting the rest — $455,000 in maintenance costs was removed from the school budget and moved to the Capital Non-Recurring Fund, the finance board made an additional $554,383 in cuts, with suggested cuts to a proposed dean of students position and removal of money in the paraprofessionals line item to account for time when some paraprofessional positions are unfilled.

Superintendent Chris Melillo at previous meetings has noted some of the challenges the board was facing, in catching students up after learning loss from the pandemic, and that contractual salaries are increasing, as well as health benefits increasing by 16% over the past two years.

“That cost us $1 million in this budget,” said Melillo. “All of us here want to see the schools be successful. My job is to do that, your [the finance board] job is to do the best you can for the schools while still being cognizant that we can’t price people out of town.”

Major drivers in the school budget are a $1,978,394 increase in salaries, a $995,194 increase in benefits, a $721,700 increase in supplies, a $587,073 increase in purchased property services, a $240,208 increase in other purchased services, and a $148,063 increase for property and equipment.

Salaries are increasing 3.58 percent, with the teachers union receiving a 1.5 percent increase and two percent for the top step only, the administrator union receiving a 2.75 percent wage increase, the custodial and maintenance union receiving a three percent increase, and the educational personnel union receiving a three percent increase.

During a presentation to the finance board earlier in the month, Melillo outlined the numerous fiscal challenges facing the schools this year, including rising costs of benefits, contractual wage increases, aging facilities, inflationary pressures, unfunded state mandates, the lingering effects of interrupted learning from the pandemic, and a fiscal cliff.

Melillo said the district is facing challenges in supporting students, including behavioral issues, social emotional development, chronic absenteeism, and the need for mental health support.

Council members discussed various questions they had on items in the municipal budget, and the library increase, which was to receive a large increase this year, had “unanimous support” at the subcommittee level, said Councilman Chris Gardner.

On January 24, members of the Board of Trustees of the C.H. Booth Library presented the library budget, which is being increased to $1,475,000, an increase of $173,531 or 13.33 percent.

The library was facing a spending cliff as it had been cut by $100,000 by the Legislative Council in the 2023-24 budget after having been flat funded since 2021. The library was approved for $1,407,621 in the 2022-23 budget, and was cut to $1,307,621 in the 2023-24 budget. The council requested that the library spend down its $523,882 fund balance, which they did.

Of the amount, $147,907 was designated to cover the 2023-24 budget deficit. Additionally, $200,000 is earmarked for capital improvements; $169,593, equal to roughly 10 percent of the operating budget, is designated as an operating reserve; and there is $6,382 left in undesignated surplus.

Trustee Don Studley said the trustees were “pleased” to see the increase for the library after the work they had done to follow the council’s directive.

Studley said the “lion’s share” of the library’s budget is spent on personnel, and no new positions are being added.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.