Third Budget Referendum Fails. What's Next?

By now, you probably know the budget referendum failed again (752 to 971). So, what now?

The fiscal year ends on June 30, and as you probably know from your tax bills, the first installment is due in July. So, new rules kick in when multiple referendums fail and tax time rolls around. Now, it's up to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) to set the mill rate, based on the advice of the Board of Finance (BOF).

So, after the votes were tallied last night, the BOF met to discuss the next course of action. As a reminder, yesterday's vote was on a 0% increase to the budget. Despite the 0% increase, there was still a minuscule mill rate increase of .12 due to a loss of revenue based on the new veteran's property tax exemption and the new way car taxes are calculated.

So, the BOF discussed two main options:

1. Sticking with the current 0% increase and .12 mill rate increase

2. Cutting enough from the budget to eliminate the .12 mill rate increase

Depending on whose calculations were correct, the town would need to cut somewhere between $97,000 (Char Steve Geryk's estimate) and $110,000 (CFO Yana Abramovich's estimate) to avoid any mill rate increase.

Board member Matt McKenney said, "We could go deeper, but that would be insane in my mind." Geryk noted fewer no votes and wondered what move would keep the same trend going. McKenney noted that each referendum costs the town about $5,000, meaning there is less money to spend on services after each vote.

The BOS can set the mill rate higher, but they cannot spend more than last year's budget until it is approved by the voters. Since the proposed budget was already a 0% increase, and the town is not spending more than last year, we could, theoretically, operate on this budget for the rest of the year without it ever being approved at a vote.

"We're in a position where people have lost total faith in government," said Dave Walsh, BOF member. He notes that he believes people are worried about the larger economy and the threat of a recession, and people will still "wonder why you aren't fixing the roads."He suggested that cutting $5,000 might show a good faith effort to cut, but the town's CFO, Yana Abramovich, noted that such a small cut would not impact the mill rate.

When the motion came, it was to keep the current budget, and the motion passed with one no vote from McKenney and Geryk abstaining.

So, look for your tax bills in the mail soon, with a referendum to follow in due time.