SALISBURY — The selectmen’s budget for 2009-10 calls for an increase of 1.4 percent, with health insurance and an increasing cost to the town for the resident state trooper as the big ticket line items.
“The bottom line might change a little but it’s pretty close,� said First Selectman Curtis Rand in presenting the budget to the Board of Finance Thursday, March 5.
Finance Chairman Bill Willis began the meeting with a brief statement that there would be no comment on the charges pending against former Board of Education clerk Lori Tompkins, who was in court Monday, March 9, to answer charges of larceny, forgery and illegal use of a credit card. (See story, Page A1.)
But the scandal’s effect was evident as Comptroller Joe Cleaveland began going through the budget, noting first of all that $6,000 was added to the auditing line on the document’s first page.
All town employees are slated to receive a 3-percent raise; the selectmen’s salaries are determined by the Board of Finance.
Health insurance is up $55,095, or 16.3 percent, and a proposed plan for towns to assume more — and eventually all — of the cost of a resident state trooper adds $21,982, an increase of 22.3 percent.
Alone among the nonprofits, the Lakeville Hose Company got an additional $15,000.
Finance member Carl Williams asked Cleaveland if the town’s pension plan is fully funded. Celaveland replied that it is, although he said he won’t have accurate numbers until May.
The highway department still has $13,000 left in the snow budget, Cleaveland reported. Rand added that the frequent, smaller snowstorms this winter proved costly. “A lot of little storms, a lot of ice this year,� he said.
The line for diesel fuel for town highway trucks is up $21,000, from $39,000 to $60,000. “We got caught short last year,� Rand said.
And the likely drop in state aid for road repair means less road work, he said.
However, the town is applying through the Northwestern Connecticut Council of Governments for a federal grant to repair the Salisbury portion of White Hollow Road. The council is a group of first selectmen from nine Litchfield County towns.
The lake management program remains intact. “We will be doing chemical treatment, weed harvesting and the studies� that the state  requires in order to do the chemical treatment, Rand said.
Almost all of the nonprofits traditionally supported by the town — the Scoville Memorial Library and the Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association, for example — were funded at the same level. “They were glad not to be cut,� said Rand in response to a question from Williams.
“Funding these entities shows what we believe in,� replied Williams. “It’s very important.�
Willis called the budget “pretty tight,� and Williams added, “You have done a commendable job, especially with all this going on. Jiminy cricket.�
