When the budget was published, given all the factors, had nothing changed, there would have been a 6% increase. That was because:
- Lost stimulus money
- Medical costs increased 10%
- GASB added $250,000
We’d subsidized last year’s budget for hundreds of thousands of dollars that are now spent. We spent down our Medical Reserve Fund leaving a balance of under $600,000.
Since then, the Town Treasurer refinanced debt so that we are paying a lower interest rate and, most important, we are delaying principal repayment ... saving (on paper) almost half a million. The schools “found” $125,000 in this year’s budget to prepay GASB and our Selectman“found” $100,000 in income in next year’s budget, etc, etc, etc, ... WOW "found money" and here I thought we had a tight accounting system ...
Bottom line, it looks like an increase in about 2.88% in taxes, all else being equal. We are kicking the can down the road in that we are not rebuilding our medical fund to the level it should be and the Town Treasurer's refinancing delays paying off debt.
So, connecting the dots or reading between the lines what does this mean to the Taxpayers of the Town in the coming years ... is it on a hope and prayer that the State's economy changes and these manipulations ... will work!
UPDATE: How it finally came down was the we did add $300K to our medical fund – That will be financed from taxes. We are also taking money from Cap/Non and transferring it into medical so that it is funded to 1.28 million dollars – As a result, it is fully funded … not flush, but adequately funded.
