Pass this Town Budget

I encourage your readers to join me in supporting our Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance to pass our town budget. They have produced a new proposal that is a $365,000 reduction from the last proposal. This will result in a total budget increase of just 1.87 percent over last year (including capital projects). The corresponding increase in the mill rate will be just a dime per thousand of assessed value, or less. For a $400,000 house, the annual tax increase represented in this budget proposal would be $28.

This is no small feat. The boards should be commended for listening to the voters and creating a new proposal that is reasonable for these difficult economic times. They have done this by doing such things as cutting new positions and getting a better price on insurance, legal fees, and debt service. Let's vote "Yes" and pass this town budget on Tuesday, July 27.

Elio Betty
Madison