Selectmen: Let the Budget Process Begin

The Board of Selectmen took the first formal step of the budget process by approving sending along to the Board of Finance a $9.27 million town operating budget that calls for a 3 percent, or $271,000, spending increase at a regular meeting Monday evening.

The town operating budget for 2011-12 was a hair under $9 million.

The estimated spending increase, which Town Manager William Smith admitted after the meeting is a moving target, is comprised of salary and wage raises pursuant to contractual requirements as well as expected rises in insurance and fuel costs.

“We don’t look to add anything than what’s already in place,” Smith said at the meeting. “Hopefully there won’t be any other surprises and we can work with [the estimated budget].”

First Selectman John Adams noted that two labor contracts would be reopened for negotiation June 30, 2012, meaning that any spending increases related to the new collective bargaining agreements would be reflected in the contingency fund.

The next step is that the Board of Finance will review the budget proposal and will have meetings and workshops scheduled throughout early 2012.

In other business, the Board of Selectmen unanimously approved Ben Perron to fill the vacancy on the Board of Education left by the resignation of John O’Connor. It’s the second stint on the school board for Perron, who also sat on the Granby Athletic Field and Recreational Facilities Long Range Planning Committee.

The Selectmen also unanimously approved appointing Mark Lockwood and Mark Fiorentino to the Conservation Commission. The commission had been seeking to fill those positions for nearly a year.

The board also unanimously approved applying for five regional incentive study grants through the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG), which will seek them through the state’s OPM.

The grants include a back office service share study, a regional 4G program for police cars, GIS expansion, IT application and a regional assessment study.

The assessment study would examine what, if anything, could be gained by regionalizing the revaluation process.

Adams said that 12 towns in the northeast region of the state have saved about 50 percent of their revaluation costs by participating in a plan similar to the one that will be studied if the CRCOG grant is approved.

Finally, Smith provided the board with an update on the status of the Granby Oak, which will have the limb that hangs over Day Street removed sometime this week.