The town needs input from its citizens

It is time to sharpen the pencil and put new batteries in the calculator. Yes, it is time to start the annual exercise of preparing the town’s budget. I expect that my process in preparing the budget will be somewhat different than my predecessors.

I greatly value public involvement in the budget process, but it is critical that the involvement be informed involvement. To this end, I will host a public meeting to discuss some of the basics of town government finance. I want to demonstrate how the budget is organized and from where the town’s revenues are received. This workshop will be Monday, Jan. 30, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, and will last approximately one hour.

While preparing for this workshop, I have had the department supervisors preparing their own lists of priorities to be considered. Their priorities will be developed from their perceived needs and desires for projects, programs and personnel. Working with the supervisors, I will blend their priorities into a master list, determining the estimated cost for each item.

In early February, I hope to schedule a lengthy workshop with the Board of Selectmen (open to the public) to discuss goals and objectives. At that time, I will share with the members of the board the list and costs of priorities from the staff. As difficult as it may seem, I will work to build consensus among the selectmen to address common issues, among themselves and the staff.

Although this early February workshop is open to the public, I need to hear from you by the end of this month as to what are some of your priorities.

Sometimes we develop short-sightedness at Town Hall, and do not look sufficiently elsewhere for projects that should be considered. In other words, I don’t have all the answers: I want the budget that is presented to you to be a community budget. What do you want your town government to do? The return on your local investment is so much easier to track than the role of your taxes in Hartford or Washington, so please, take greater interest in how your tax dollars are being spent. Please forward your interests or priorities to me.

In late February, I hope to pull everything together into a draft budget to share with the Board of Selectmen. This draft budget will be presented by me to the Board, with the assistance of the department supervisors. The budget will be an effort to demonstrate to the Board (and community) how I valued the input and priorities from the staff, the Board, and the entire community. I will present each department individually, reviewing each line with the Board of Selectmen. I expect to include the detailed budget from the Board of Education in this presentation, as well. I believe that the education budget within the town budget should be as detailed as the rest of the budget, not simply a lump sum appropriation: all town expenditures should be described in this single document.

I hope to accomplish all of these tasks prior to the charter-required March 15 deadline to officially present the budget to the Board of Selectmen. By completing the bulk of the work prior to March 15, we have time to more thoroughly examine the budget and offer changes, if necessary. This should not be a process that is rushed through with little consideration. At a time when revenues are flat (at best) and various costs continue to rise, every consideration must be made to become more efficient and reduce costs. I look forward to working with you on my first Winchester budget.

I wish to now offer an update on the summer movie project that I first described several weeks ago. I have raised enough money through voluntary contributions that I now need only an additional $3,000 (from the original start of $5,000).

Since I believe I can reach that goal, I have tentatively scheduled four movie dates in June and July. I’ll keep working on the details, but thank you to those who have donated so far. I hope that other individuals, businesses or agencies can continue the pace of donations to get the final monies needed. I look forward to some fun summer movies.

Dale Martin is the town manager of Winchester.