Town Council — 2026-03-12

The Town Council held an FY2027 budget work session on March 12, 2026, focusing on departmental budgets, tax and utility rates, and a Paypoint compensation study. Council covered implementing the revised salary scale portion of the Paypoint study effective April 1, 2026 (estimated cost ~$22,000) and agreed staff will review the detailed salary grid before formal action on March 19; Ms. Luffman said the cost can be covered by surplus interest earnings (about $77k–$80k above budgeted interest). Council discussed possibly using surplus funds to buy Mobile Data Terminals for the Police Department now to avoid price increases, confirmed the property tax rate remains $0.535 per $100, and learned the General Fund and Enterprise Fund are projected to end the year positive by about $47,647 and $10,018 respectively. Department highlights included requests to revisit the Legislative donations/appropriations line and invite nonprofit applicants to present, revenue changes (higher Highway User Revenue, landfill tipping fees treated as pass-through, cemetery revenues variable, and removal of cannabis sales tax revenue after a business left town), and increased Planning legal fees tied to TND work; Administration budget increases were linked to salary adjustments, pension and FAMLI costs, overtime, and travel, and staff were asked to provide salary and headcount breakdowns where new positions are proposed.