Budgets OK, will be presented May 18

SALISBURY — The Board of Finance voted Thursday, May 5, to send the budget proposals of the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education for the 2011-12 fiscal year, as presented at public hearing, to a vote at a town meeting Wednesday, May 18.The proposed selectmen’s budget for town government is $4,948,508, an increase of $54,691 or 1.12 percent over 2010-11. The new fiscal year begins July 1.The proposed budget for Salisbury Central School (SCS) is $4,802,422, an increase of $176,262 or 3.81 percent.Salisbury’s contribution to the six-town Region One School District for 2011-12 is $2,991,037, down $31,644 (1.05 percent). The Region One budget passed at a referendum vote May 2 (see story Page A1).Total education spending for Salisbury for 2011-12, if the SCS budget is approved, will be $7,793,459 (up $144,618 or 1.89 percent).Total expenditures for the town of Salisbury, if approved, will be $12,741,967, an increase of $199,309 or 1.59 percent.At the public hearing May 4, finance board Chairman Bill Willis sketched out a “mill rate scenario” that figured on an increase in the mill rate from the current 9.5 to 10 mills.Willis said that a .5 mill increase translates into a property tax hike of between 2 and 3 percent. Because this is a revaluation year, however, taxpayers whose assessments go down 6 percent or more will experience a reduction on their taxes at the 10 mill rate, he added. Willis said approximately 65 percent of taxable properties will have a smaller tax bill, and about 35 percent will see an increase.At the finance board’s special meeting May 5, the board voted 5-0 to approve the selectmen’s budget as presented, and 4-1 on the Salisbury Central School budget, with Don Mayland casting the dissenting vote.School budgetsThe budgets were presented to taxpayers at a meeting at Town Hall May 4.SCS Principal Chris Butwill was the point man for the school budget proposal, and he began by pointing out that in the last two budget cycles the Board of Education came in with minimal increases.Anyone expecting a showdown over class sizes (as there has been in recent years) was disappointed. There was only one question: Could SCS get by with fewer teachers? Butwill replied that the Board of Education decided to go with a plan that calls for 22 classroom teachers, and a second-grade class split into three sections instead of two.Asked what the cost per pupil is, Butwill said the yearly cost is $17,657 per pupil, which works out to $98.09 per day.Salisbury resident Chris Janelli asked about line 72 in the school proposal, titled “grounds.” It is up to $24,041 from $15,145, an $8,896 increase. “Two words,” replied Butwill. “Bark mulch.” He explained that playground areas, by regulation, must have certain depths of mulch to ensure a soft landing for anyone who takes a tumble off a piece of equipment.Janelli also asked at what temperature the school buildings are kept during the winter. Butwill wasn’t exactly sure, “but in general we don’t have the school roasting.”Municipal spendingFirst Selectman Curtis Rand presented the municipal budget proposal, noting that all town employees got a 1 percent raise, except the selectmen.That statement was challenged a little later, as the spreadsheet that was handed out indicates that the first selectman’s salary is going from $63,414 to $73,316.Willis took the floor again to explain that the longstanding policy of “merit pay” for the selectmen, an unusual arrangement by which the Board of Finance could allocate a bonus (about $8,000 for the first selectman and $1,000 for each of the other two selectmen), essentially for a job well done, had been discarded.The policy had been questioned repeatedly in recent years. Willis said the Board of Finance agreed to review the policy after last year’s public hearing.“People wanted to see it in the salary line,” said Willis. “After review, we decided to take the suggestion of the public. If people vote a person in [as first selectman], that person should get that salary.”The merit pay has never been withheld, Willis continued, so while the figure in the salary line is larger there is no net increase.One alteration in policy is the shifting of money from the road work line to the capital spending line for two new Highway Department trucks. Rand said this is just a one-year change, and that roads will be paved and bridges repaired as usual.Not-for-profits that receive grants from the town — including the Scoville Memorial Library, Housatonic Youth Services Bureau, Housatonic Child Care, Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association — are receiving the same amount as last year. “That’s with some regret,” Rand commented. Later, Selectman Jim Dresser said this is the third year in a row that grants have not been increased.“We’re trying to keep taxes down, but the people who benefit most from the nonprofits are doing worse.”