Financial Town Meeting is June 9

East Greenwich’s annual Financial Town Meeting is scheduled for June 9 at East Greenwich High School at 6:30 p.m.

Last year, just 35 registered voters attended — a far cry from the 250 required to establish a quorum — and the town hasn’t seen a quorum for more than a decade.

Still, East Greenwich voters last November rejected a bond referendum that would have abolished the FTM, an indication that residents still want the format, which harkens back to an agrarian past and enables residents to make minor or sweeping changes to the town budget in a community forum setting.

Town Manager Thomas E. Coyle III has proposed a $60.9 million budget for fiscal 2016, which represents a tax rate increase of 2.03 percent.

Coyle said the budget is a reflection of revenue challenges that “will definitely impact the total budget as a whole,” Coyle wrote in his budget message. “Our momentum moving forward will be focused on managing less revenues and expenditure growth, while still providing the high level of services our residents and businesses have come to enjoy.”

The town is dealing with the loss in $335,000 for Potowomut rescue billing, $99,115 in state school housing aid, $178,000 from the transfer in debt service and $80,000 from school impact fees.

At the same time, Coyle had to account for salary and contract obligations that will give all town employees a 2 percent raise in the upcoming year along with a 3 percent raise for firefighters, who are in their third year of a three-year contract.

The total budget is a 1.97 percent increase over last year’s $59.8 million budget. Coyle is proposing a $22.6 million town operating budget and a $38.3 million school budget, an increase of 2.38 percent over last year.

The biggest expense in the budget is for debt service. Coyle said that the actual cost went down by $85,980 in the budget, though it’s still $6.65 million — which represents 10 percent of the total budget. It is offset by housing aid and tax subsidies, though, which brings that percentage down to about 7.3 percent and well under the 10 percent “rule of thumb,” Coyle said. The largest chunk of the $6.65 million is $4.9 million for school debt service.

Also in the budget is a proposal by Coyle to hire a part-time human resources person to deal with increasing compliance requirements.

On the school side, Coyle said the increase from $32.4 to $33.9 million results in an actual increase in the appropriation of $925,455.

The budget can be viewed HERE.

The Town Council continues its work on the budget during work sessions on April 27 and 28. On the 27th, the council will discuss the police and fire department budgets at 6 p.m. before their regular meeting at 7 p.m. in Town Hall, 125 Main St.

The April 28 work session will review the public works, IT, parks and recreation and senior and human services budgets at 6 p.m. at the Swift Community Center, 121 Peirce St.