In his presentation, Grant said the town has been “historically able to rely on natural revenue growth to fund the majority of expenditure increases,” but “most revenues that the town receives are projected to either remain flat or decline.”
He added that the increase would represent “a balanced approach to the needs expressed by residents.”
All of the proposed increase would be applied to public safety and parks bonds, two areas identified by residents as top concerns in this year’s budget survey.
Without the increase, said Grant, lower police salaries compared to neighboring towns would worsen retention issues, and planned investments in parks related to the parks bonds would not occur.
The current town tax rate is 17.31 cents per $100 property valuation, amounting to approximately $865 in local taxes for a home assessed at $500,000. A 2-cent increase would raise town taxes by $100 annually for a home of the same value.
“This budget will minimally address the town’s needs for personnel increases, recruitment, retention and additional resources,” Grant said.
The town board will receive resident feedback on the proposed budget during upcoming board meetings and must vote to adopt a town budget on or before June 30.
The town budget represents about 20% of the total tax bill, with the remainder coming from county taxes.
Streaming coverage of the budget retreat is available online.
