KENT — Municipal operating costs were anticipated to increase by nearly 6% after the Board of Selectmen’s first presentation of its budget to the Board of Finance.
The BOS presented its budget draft, which is subject to change as budget season progresses towards the town hearing and vote in May, to the BOF at its regular meeting on March 11. The bottom line total for the next fiscal year was $5,309,163, marking a 5.7% increase from the amount budgeted for this year.
The two town boards discussed the expenditure draft, noting where the most marked increases lay.
As in other towns in the Northwest Corner, insurance costs for hiked, increasing for Town Hall employees under a state plan by close to 13% per person. Treasurer Barbara Herbst noted that the state had announced that premiums would not be hiked as much as anticipated, so that number could end up lower.
The Selectmen’s own budget line is marked at a 22% increase from 2025-2026. First Selectman Eric Epstein explained that the difference is largely due to a proposed new social media specialist position for Town Hall. The new part-time role, if filled, would add $23,400 to the BOS’s expenditures.
Much of the meeting was dedicated to discussing Lake Waramaug, primarily due to a plan to combat the invasive waterweed hydrilla that was recently formulated between the lake’s three governing towns of Washington, Warren and Kent.
Kent is currently set to contribute 20% of the total staffing costs of $100,000 for a new decontamination station at the New Preston firehouse.
BOF member Jason Wright voiced his support for acting quickly against the aggressive plant, but advised that the various commissions and municipal groups in charge of the lake should figure out how to diffuse the costs away from Kent taxpayers, most of whom aren’t putting boats into Lake Waramaug.
During public comment at the meeting’s end, resident Donna Hayes felt that Kent residents were being treated unfairly by being forced to contribute such a sum to a lake many aren’t even able to use due to access restrictions and costs. She voiced her desire to “get something for our money” in future deliberations surrounding expenses for the lake.
The next stage in Kent’s budget proceedings will occur on March 25, when the Board of Education presents its drafted contribution to the yearly municipal budget
