BUDGET SEASON
Finances in Georgia reflect finished projects

By JACQUELINE CAIN | Staff Writer
jackie@miltonindependent.com

The Georgia Selectboard finalized its 2012 calendar-year budget that it will ask voters to approve on Town Meeting Day.

The $2,233,085 budget is a 19.1 percent decrease from 2011, which largely reflects the completed municipal renovation projects that took place last year, Town Administrator Carrie Johnson said.

The draft budget indicates $1,339,619 will need to be raised by taxes, which is less than a 1 percent increase from 2011. Selectboard Chairman Kirk Waite said the town tax rate may actually go down from 2011’s .2559; it depends on the town’s grand list – the total taxable property in the town – which isn’t finalized until July.

The tax rates, including the state education rate, are finalized in August, and tax bills are mailed by September, Treasurer Amber Baker said.

“Historically, the grand list goes up from new homes being built, new businesses being built and improvements to homes and businesses,” Waite said. “I would anticipate that [the grand list] will go up by more than the amount to be raised by taxes is going up, from a percentage standpoint,” which would result in a lower tax rate.

Waite thinks this budget is fiscally responsible as it maintains and improves the town’s infrastructure and provides services “at reasonable cost,” he said, adding that last year, Georgia’s tax rate was third lowest in Franklin County.

The actual 2011 budget includes a new line item for the Highway Department: disaster revenue. The town of Georgia was reimbursed $35,896.54 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency last fall after making permanent repairs to portions of Georgia Shore, Old Stage and Montcalm roads and on Georgia Mountain that were damaged in the historic flooding of spring 2011, Johnson said.

The 2012 budget – Georgia plans its finances from January 1 to December 31 of the calendar year – includes two notable expenditures: a new loader for the Highway Department and repairs and improvements to the Town Beach boat ramp, Waite said.

The Selectboard allotted $68,000 to the Highway Department for the $100,000 loader purchase, which will come in the form of a low-interest loan, Waite said. The town expects a $32,000 trade-in for a backhoe to make up the difference, he added.

The boat ramp, an estimated $38,500 cost, is tax neutral and will be paid with grants, impact fees and reserve funds, Waite said.

“[The improvements are] going to provide a better slope and surface for vehicles going in and out [of the lake], as well as extend it further out into the water … so it’s easier to bring the boat in and out of the water,” he said.

The 2012 budget also absorbs anticipated salary increases of some municipal employees and an adjusted increase in compensation for members of the Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Adjustment and Board of Civil Authority, Waite said.

The rate would also extend to the Lister Board, when and if those positions are filled, Johnson said. The town currently relies on a contracted assessor to perform those duties, she said.

The Planning Commission approached the Selectboard about increasing board members’ per-meeting payment from $15 to $20, Johnson said. It hadn’t been adjusted since 1996, she added.

Because 2012 is an election year, Georgia has two extra elections in the form of the August’s statewide primary and the presidential election in November, an $8,300 cost to the town, Town Clerk Laurie Broe said. Another cost for 2012 will be about $28,000 in interest and principal payments associated with the municipal renovation projects, Waite said. To accommodate these costs within the budget, Waite said “there are minor puts and takes everywhere.”

Two major cost-savers came in the form of a $4,300 reduction in what Georgia owes in regional taxes to Franklin County, which is due to labor reductions on the county level, as well as anticipated revenue from selling the county jail, Waite said. New insurance packages from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont for municipal employees will save the town about $21,000; Johnson said the new service is comparable to the coverage the town had from Cigna, at a lower rate.

Georgia voters will also consider one new appropriation at Town Meeting Day this year, an annual payment of $1,000 to support the Friends of Northern Lake Champlain. The group presented a petition to the town clerk, signed by 5 percent of Georgia voters, by the January 26 deadline; if approved on the ballot, the Friends’ request will be added to annual budgets from 2012 on, Waite said.

“It will not necessarily be approved each year, but [groups] don’t have to get the petition signed each year,” Waite said. “We find that actually helps identify those organizations that are willing to do the work, get out into town and help people understand what it is they want supported.”

He added the Selectboard takes guidance from how taxpayers vote on appropriations each Town Meeting Day and uses it to develop future budgets.

The 2011 actual budget, as well as the board-approved 2012 budget, will be available for Georgians to review in the annual Town Report by February 21, Baker said. These books will be available in the municipal building as well as at local businesses. A draft budget will also be available in advance of Town Meeting on the town’s website, she said.