KENT —After restoring funds to three accounts, the Board of Finance voted to approve the amended proposed 2021-22 town budget at their meeting on Tuesday, April 28. The meeting was conducted on Zoom.
The action cleared the way for the town budget and the Board of Education budget to be considered at a public hearing to be held on Friday, May 7, beginning at 7 p.m., on Zoom.
Indicating that the selectmen had taken no action at their April meeting to resolve the budget requests from the Kent Memorial Library ($125,000) and the Kent Volunteer Fire Department ($106,000), finance board member Ed Epstein urged funding the two organizations at their originally requested levels. The finance board acted accordingly.
The Emergency Medical Services line was raised to its requested level of $31,797.
By those actions, the new funding total for the town budget proposal stands at $13,363,029. To keep the mill rate steady, that total will require that $486,250 be withdrawn from the town’s unassigned General Fund.
Finance board member Rufus de Rham commented that he understood the selectmen’s intent had been to hold the mill rate steady for the coming year.
Copies of the town budget proposals are available at Town Hall in printed form, and the budget is also posted on the town website at www.townofkentct.org; click on the announcement of the May 7 public hearing.
