Page 12 - 2021 Annual Reportprint

The Budget

This year’s budget shows a 7% increase over last year’s Proposed Budget, but is
only 1.8% more than the average of the last five years. The last couple years, due
to Covid, the board underspent the budgets because with the pandemic shutting
down the economy, the board couldn’t know what the impact would be on people’s
ability to pay taxes. Some expenses were put off and some employees were laid
off.

But now, the jobs market has resulted in significant increases in the cost of labor. A
compensation report from the VT League of Cities and Towns shows that a number
of our employees are significantly underpaid and if we want to keep them there
will have to be increases in wages.

Past investments in energy efficiency have resulted in lower heating fuel costs in
all our buildings, even with higher fuel costs.

Most of the budget increase is accounted for by Line Item 1122 “Long-term Debt.”
This is the amount of money the town has to borrow at the end of the year to meet
the approved budget, even if not all the taxes the budget proposed actually were
paid. Last year the town didn’t have to borrow any money due to underspending
the budget (see above) and an unanticipated revenue source.

After a recent episode of vandalism in the town hall, we have installed cameras on
all our town buildings, with the help of a $5,000 grant from our insurer. We have
also installed an up-to-date electronic locking system on the town hall. It’s been
ten years since the paint job on the town hall and the Selectboard has been putting
money away in anticipation of needing it done again soon.
Town Meeting will be held February 28 in-person in the gym Monday night as
is customary. Masks and social distancing will be required to protect the public
health.

Lastly, we wish the best for our retired Road Foreman Mark Castonguay, who
served the town for more than 30 years on our road crew. We would also like to
express our appreciation for the town staff that have had to work under difficult
conditions these past few years.

Sincerely,

Brighton Selectboard

Michael Strait, Chair ‘24 Jeanne Gervais ‘23 Heather McElroy’22

12 Town of Brighton, VT