Reductions Not without Impact

Madison will return to the polls on July 27 for the third town budget referendum. Over the last seven months, we have reviewed expenditures in response to citizens who were concerned about tax increases during tough economic times.

The recommended town budget is $19,878,581: a 1.36-percent increase over last year. This is a reduction of $465, 098 from the proposed budget presented in June when the budget was reduced by $242,320. The reductions have touched almost all town departments and reserves. Efforts were made to minimize the impact, but significant reductions cannot be made without impact. Proposed positions in land use and senior services have been eliminated. Existing positions have been eliminated or reduced. Services have been reduced in maintenance, senior, youth, Scranton Memorial Library, and land use. Reserve accounts have been reduced. Without debt service, this proposal is below the 2009-2010 budget.

This budget year presented multi-faceted challenges. Debt service was significantly increased with the Senior Center/ambulance garage project and the open space purchase of the Griswold property. The debt service obligation is fixed and not available for adjustment. Declining revenues with stalled Grand List growth adds to the challenge. This results in the squeeze of the town's operating budget.

This proposal is a compromise between those who wanted reductions in "things not people" and those who sought to preserve reserves. The reductions are split evenly between operations and reserves. As in all compromises, no one gets everything they asked for. We now ask for your readers' support. Let's approve the budget and move on to discuss the future of Madison and how we can work together.

Helen Burland, Chairman
Kathy Rossini
Peggy Lyons
Jim Matteson
Kathy Stahelski
Jennifer Tung

Board of Finance
Madison