March 29, 2012
Town Proposed Budget
Last week, the Board of Finance made their final decisions on the budgets to be presented to the town at the upcoming public hearings on April 2nd and 3rd. On the town side, the board reduced my proposed town budget by $102,000. The largest piece of that reduction is the elimination of the proposed resident trooper for third shift coverage.
Although the Board of Finance chose not to fund the third shift resident trooper, I know they gave it a lot of thought and listened to community input from the budget survey and public comments. While I believe that Colchester should move towards third shift local police coverage, I fully understand that we are in tough financial times and perhaps this is not the year to move forward on this initiative. I want to thank the Board of Finance for really examining this issue which will undoubtedly come up again in the future.
I also want to thank the Police Commission who has spent an enormous amount of time putting together a plan to implement a third shift. Their work has laid the foundation for this conversation to continue in future budget years.
The proposed town budget, which includes debt and capital, is now a 3.87% decrease versus this year’s budget. The major reason for the decrease is a large drop in debt service. Another reason for the decrease is a decline in our cost of health insurance. Although there is a big drop in debt service, we must be mindful there is also a drop in revenue associated with that debt service, specifically school construction grants. If you were to remove debt and capital from the proposed town budget and look solely at operations, there is a .92% increase versus this year’s budget.
The next steps in the process are the public hearings on April 2nd and 3rd at 7PM at Town Hall. Residents are encouraged to attend these hearings and provide any input before the Board of Finance makes their final decisions. Unless there is a change, there will be a Town Meeting on April 25th where the residents will have the opportunity to move the budget to a referendum on May 8th.
Open Space Acquisition
For the last couple of months, the town has been in negotiations to potentially purchase a 75 acre parcel that has served as a working farm for years. Preservation of farms and open space is a priority for the town for a number of reasons. First, we want to preserve our rural character that we have all come to enjoy. Also, it is important to control the growth of housing in town. A large parcel such as this could easily be developed and bring more housing which requires more services to be provided by the town and school system.
Purchasing open space in not new to Colchester. We have acquired parcels in the past to further our preservation goals and open up new recreational areas for residents. This purchase will likely be a bond question on the ballot in May for the town’s consideration.
- Gregg Schuster
First Selectman
Previous Selectman Notes can be viewed at
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