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“We’ve got to do this the right way,” he said at the board’s meeting Feb. 18. “I know we all have a number in our heads of what the real need is and what we think will actually pass. [But] we have to put these numbers out there to tell people what’s really going on.”
Under the governor’s proposed state budget, officials have said the town would lose up to $1.2 million in state aid next year, or around $935,000 if an increased meals and hotel tax passes the state Legislature.
Shields said a level town budget probably won’t be finalized by the March 10 deadline to have the override question go on the April town election ballot. The Warrant Committee will attempt to create a first draft of the budget at an all-day meeting scheduled for Saturday, March 7, at 9 a.m. at the Senior Center, 10 Walnut St.
But Selectman Marion McEttrick said it will probably take another two weeks after that to have a final draft.
“It’s going to take another month or so from where we’re at now,” she said. “We’ll put the information out there. We’ll try to answer any questions and we’ll try to do our best.”
Shields added that he welcomes residents to attend the meetings to ask questions. McEttrick suggested that questions about the budget submitted by e-mail be answered during meetings.
Officials have said the town realistically needs between $4 million and $5 million next year to roll over level services, much of which comes from wage increases and increasing service costs. The School Department request is $1.3 million, down from its original request for $1.8 million to bring the same staff and services into next year. School officials have acknowledged they will likely need to make some degree of cuts if an override has any chance of being supported.
Selectman Chair Kathy Fagan said town department heads continue to determine which positions and services they can afford to cut if an override covers only a portion of that cost.
“I don’t think there’s any question this town needs an override at this point, looking at these numbers,” Shields said. “It’s probably less than 50/50 that it will pass. [But] we owe it to the town to put this question before them, to try to preserve our town’s services as much as we can.”