Today I had the opportunity to spend several hours in Hartford listening to presentations made by the Office of Policy & Management and the Office of Fiscal Analysis to the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees. Each office presented their projections for the State’s finances over the next several years. You might be asking, “why in the world would she want to hear that?!”
As I am reminded every day watching the stacks grow of energy applications taken by Michelle, Mandy, and Lori … the numbers of citizens using the Food Bank … the calls for housing assistance … foreclosures … businesses laying off employees and working hard to stay afloat – times are tough for everyone. Yet, at the same time, budget season is fast approaching.
Town staff searches daily for ways to increase revenues and decrease expenses. Spending is happening only for essential items. One good side of the slowdown is that developers now have more time to plan, so we’re building relationships and plans for the future. Work is being undertaken to ensure that we are strategically poised should any of the federal stimulus packages being discussed at the federal level ultimately become approved. We’ve purchased oil at good prices and joined an electricity consortium to hold down costs for the next five years. The Boards of Selectmen, Finance, and Education are working together to develop a town-wide “Purchasing Policy” – something that no other town we could find has.
All of that said, the picture at the State level is still not pretty. “Assistance to towns” accounts for 16% of the State’s budget. How does that translate to Colchester? 11.2% of the Town’s approximate $13.3 million budget (including debt service) and 42.0% of the Board of Education’s approximate $34.3 million budget are funds received through State assistance. This is not to paint a picture of doom and gloom – it is what it is and together we will meet the challenges. I just want to alert you that as a Town we have our work cut out for us this year – and we must do this as a Town, not one individual entity over another. The question this year must be 100% focused on “What is good for Colchester?” And you have work to do!!
Your job? Talk to your elected officials. We want to hear what you think is good for Colchester’s future. Please think about what we need as a community and what we can set as realistic goals for the coming year. Think about what part(s) of those needs should be filled by government and what must be filled via other means. We’ll brainstorm together, talk about the needs, and find ways to achieve the goals. Now is the time for those discussions – so that we all go into the budget season better informed.
Please join me and your Department Heads at one of our upcoming coffees. Get your questions answered and share your thoughts. If the times/dates of our scheduled coffees don’t work for you, your friends, and/or neighbors, set up one with a group of people and we’d love to attend. You are the most important part of government.
Upcoming coffees are today (Thursday), 3:00 p.m. at Illiano’s with Adam Turner, Town Planner, and Craig Grimord, Zoning Enforcement Officer; Tuesday, December 9 at 6:30 p.m. with Mark Decker, Public Works Director.
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