Proposed budget meets needs of town

By the time that you read this, my proposed budget for the next fiscal year will be in the hands of the selectmen. I won’t offer too many details, mainly because I would like the selectmen to at least have a chance to review the proposed budget before being questioned on it. I expect that I will offer a formal public presentation of the budget sometime next week (likely scheduled as part of Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting).Without overwhelming you with numbers, let me share the philosophy that I used to guide me as I prepared the budget. First and foremost, my proposed budget is exactly that. This is a budget that I developed with invaluable assistance from department supervisors. The Board of Selectmen — as individuals, groups or a whole — has had no role in my proposed budget. In other words, the proposed budget is not a Republican budget or a Democrat budget; it is intended to be a professionally developed government budget to meet the needs of the town.Second, as a proposed budget, the document is a starting point for discussion. I do not expect the budget to be immediately blessed and blindly accepted. The Board of Selectmen and you, as residents who must vote on the budget, should examine it and ask questions. I do not have all of the answers, but it is my responsibility to give us a starting point for moving forward. The proposed budget now enters the political arena and will bend and sway as (rational?) discussion ensues.The proposed budget attempts to address two critical factors. First, return some stability to the budget, especially with regard to town and Board of Education expenditures. Over the past few years, appropriations between the two have fluctuated wildly, with the influx of federal money through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the underfunding of the minimum budget requirement (MBR). It is imperative to restore the proper relationship of property tax revenues to fund town and education expenditures. The MBR is a state statute and mandate that the town must fund to at least that level.The second critical factor is addressing the greatest needs of the town. Either due to past practice, intentional design or lack of communication, the town and the Board of Education do not work together to develop the town budget. The complete town budget is developed by each entity (the town and the Board of Education) with minimal assistance from each other. This is simply not effective budget preparation and forces the needs of the Town (big “T,” meaning everyone) to be divided into the needs of the town and the schools. Dr. Thomas Danehy, superintendent of Winchester Public Schools, has provided his list of needs to the Board of Education, which in turn will share those needs with the Board of Selectmen and you. Again, it is crucial that you, as a town voter, examine the needs of the Town (big “T”).The greatest town needs, from my perspective and as voiced by nearly every resident, are the conditions of town roads and infrastructure and the needs of public safety. In order to begin to address these, my proposed budget reduces general government spending by more than 15 percent. Part of this reduction is due to a proposed pay freeze across all departments (which is somewhat offset by an 11 percent increase in the cost of medical benefits). These two issues — wages and benefits — will be the part of the contract negotiations with four of the town’s unions this year. With these savings, public works and public safety are proposed to be increased by roughly 8 percent each to fund road improvements, additional staffing and modern equipment.All of the department supervisors had a list of needs and wants, most of which are not included in the proposed budget. It was very challenging to closely examine those desires and attempt to prioritize the needs of the town. I did not approach the budget with the primary focus of settling for the magical number of what I thought the residents would support. My focus, again, was on properly identifying and addressing the needs of the town.I look forward to sharing more of my thoughts on the proposed budget with you over the next several weeks. Dale Martin is the town manager of Winchester.