Board of Selectmen Approves Its Budget

The Board of Selectmen approved a 2011-2012 town spending budget of $9,314,852, a $226,569 or 2.53-percent increase over the current adjusted budget of $9,085,283. The plan will now go to the Board of Finance.

Selectmen made mostly minor changes to Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner’s original proposal, which does not include education, but did end up adding funds for pavement management or road work. Selectmen budgeted about $400,000 for roads, up from the $320,000 proposed by Skinner. Some of the funds were transferred from other line items and $25,000 was added by selectmen.

Roads in town have been the subject of much discussion lately and earlier in the night selectmen heard from Gordon Daring, director, pavement engineering at Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., the firm that conducted the $30,000 Pavement Management study.

The study grades each road in town on a scale of 1 to 100 and suggests various remedies for improvement based on a road’s condition and other factors.

While the study states that the town would need nearly $18 million to bring all its roads to perfect condition, the company and town staff are exploring options in utilizing its funds. 

While the topic generate much discussion from selectmen about how to best use available funds, select options and decide what constituted acceptable conditions, Daring said some basic principals are at play.

First is that the town has used a flawed approach.

“Chip sealing has been the one-size-fits-all approach,” he said.

Chip sealing a road with poor drainage, for example, does not solve the problem, he said.

Different roads require different techniques depending on drainage, condition, topography and other factors, he said.

Also, spending the bulk of funds on prevention rather than reconstruction can be a cost saver in the long run, he added.

“It absolutely pays to keep roads that are in good and fair condition in good and fair condition,” he said, adding that the first priority should be low-cost fixes to heavily traveled roads.

Selectmen also discussed the idea of bonding money for roads, a topic likely to be further discussed in the next year, according to officials.

The selectmen’s budget does not include education spending.

Superintendent Kevin Case’s proposed schools budget is $23,333,522, a $1,049,713 or 4.7-percent increase from the 2010-11 approved budget. The plan includes a $400,000 to replace older windows at the Canton High/Middle School building.

Skinner said if the budgets remain unchanged, the tax rate would increase by .94 mills. Homeowners with an assessment of $200,000 would see taxes rise by $188 under that scenario but those numbers are still very preliminary. The board of Education is expected to vote on Case’s proposal Tuesday, March 8 at 7 p.m

In addition, the Board of Finance still has to look at both plans.

A budget public hearing for both school and town spending will take place at 7 p.m. on April 7.

On April 14 the Board of Finance will hold a budget workshop and the annual Budget meeting is set for May 9 at 7 p.m.