Selectboard Ponders Budget Projections
Town Manager Todd Odit said early projections on the municipal budget may require $600,000 in additional revenue. Selectboard members discussed possible local option tax on sales, meals & liquor.
The Record Staff
Town Manager Todd Odit gave the selectboard early warning Wednesday (Nov. 5): The town budgets are going to be on the rise – particularly if the town wants more complete police and fire coverage.
The point of the Oct. 22 public safety information session, he said, was to explain the perspectives of the fire and police departments: They need extra staffing to either restore or add more professionals to ensure public safety. “The town is going to have to decide what it wants,” Odits said.
While the budget discussions for next year’s budget are just starting – and the final budget approved by the selectobard will be eventually voted on by residents in March – the proposed fire and EMS budget is 25 percent higher to pay for two additional staffers, and the proposed police department budget reflects a 20 percent increase to restore one officer and the full-time cost of a new police chief.
Additionally, he said, the police department budget reflects the lost income from the former agreement with the Town of Richmond to share the chief and supply police coverage. That agreement was curtailed earlier this year.
Selectboard chair Merrily Lovell then brought up the point that “it may be time for a local option tax.”
Selectman Dennis Place countered that “a local option tax won’t cover the $600,000.”
Odit agreed but estimated that it could raise $250,000, later commenting that the difficulty Hinesburg has is the lack of a diverse tax base, particularly additional commercial businesses which pay taxes but don’t demand the kind of additional services that residential developments require.
(NOTE: The Record will be covering the budget process in detail this winter. Make sure to subscribe to this site so you can keep abreast of the changes and proposals.)
In other action, the selectboard:
approved Diane Kingston as a new member of the Trails Committee;
heard that a low bid for the new Lantman’s crosswalk (across Rte. 116) was $168,020, some of which will be paid for by state grants and from the town’s sidewalk fund; work will begin in the spring;
approved taking out a $40,000 loan for the bulk of the cost of the new police cruiser with Northfield Savings at 4.6 percent;
agreed with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee member Rachel Sellers that a policy was needed regarding town use of artificial intelligence tools and asked Sellers’ committee to research current use by town employees and develop a suggested policy for the board. As Lovell put it, “Today I wonder, ‘Why do we need this?’ But tomorrow I might be saying, ‘Why didn’t we do this?’”
approved the second-class liquor and tobacco license for Stewart’s (the Mobil station in town), a requirement because the business changed hands earlier this year;
learned that applications are coming in for Hinesburg’s open police chief position and Odit suggested interviews will begin in January with a committee made up of representatives of the selectboard, a former selectboard member, the school district, a police officer and a member of the public. He said anyone interested in being on the committee should reach out to him; and
the process of rebuilding the Beecher Hill bridges has begun with seeking easements and rights of way, engineering and re-application to FEMA; once the town knows FEMA’s commitment, it will put the bridges out to bid.