The Waitsfield Select Board is bringing a $2,752,344 budget to voters at Town Meeting next month. The proposed budget is up 2.8% ($75,443) from last year’s budget of $2,676,901.
Most of that $75,443 increase is due to the addition of a new administrative and board assistant, budgeted at $62,000. Another $5,000 increase comes from a line item for the town’s ongoing work to develop a municipal wastewater system.
The town’s planning and zoning department is seeing an $8,000 or 7.9% decrease due the retirement of a special planning projects line item. Road department salaries are up 8.8%, but project road department overtime is down from $30,732 to $7,748 after the town hired a fourth road department worker.
Employee benefits for Waitsfield staff are down 6.2%. That reflects a reduction in health insurance costs of $16,446, a reduction in FICA/Medicare $2,503, and a reduction in retirement costs of $2,209.
The fire department budget is up 9.6%, from $174,838 to $191,648. That increase reflects upping firefighter stipends/wages by $12,404. The town’s special appropriations line item is up 13% or $3,250. The bulk of that increase is a $3,000 increase in town funding for Mad River Valley Seniors, from $7,000 to $10,000.
The town’s capital improvement program is seeing a decrease over last year with a projected savings of $3,175. The board’s budget reduced what was being set aside for road department appropriations from $87,500 to $33,000.
In terms of revenues, the budget projects an increase of $48,724 in property taxes, an increase in town clerk, treasurer and interest income of $2,500, an increase of $8,474 from Fayston’s share of funding the fire department and an increase of $8,344 in general government income. Total revenues are anticipated at $2,752,344
