 Hello and welcome to ongoing town meeting day election coverage on town meeting TV My name is Bobby Lucia and I'll be the host for tonight's program Which features an overview of the proposed budget and some valid items for the town of Essex This program will be one in a series of forums that we're hosting an advance of town meeting day this year Which falls on Tuesday, March 7th and in our forum series town meeting TV invites candidates and Municipal officials to unpack the items and races that you'll see on your ballot this year So we'll dive in in just a second But before we get started just a reminder that our phone lines are open and if you're tuning in live We welcome your questions at 802-862-3966 You can give us a call at any time and we will put you live on air and we'll hear your question right away So with that I'd now like to introduce our represent representatives from the town of Essex. We're gonna walk us through The Essex ballot so here in the studio. We have Greg Duggan the town manager and Tracy Delfia the select board vice chair So without further ado Tracy I'll hand it over to you as you can pull up your slides whenever you're ready And we'll hear you talk a little bit about what Essex residents will expect in the town budget and on their ballot this year Perfect. Thank you Bobby and thanks for joining us this evening The first item I'd like to do is just walk us through the fy 2024 budget Which runs from our fiscal year runs from july 1st 2023 through june 30th 2024 So each year the select board Reorganizes in april Following that the select board identifies specific goals not specific to budget But on this slide we have the budget goals that were identified this past summer By the select board. So the first goal was to maintain services And positions while finding efficiencies and cost savings, which is important to keep the budget as low as possible Also appropriately planned for maintenance and upgrades taking care of our facilities is important to Decrease that overall cost That you know something terrible happens if you put off maintenance, it's typically going to be more expensive in the long run Some general fund highlights for the proposed budget These will keep municipal services intact keeping in mind that in Essex we did have some fairly significant challenges this year in our budget development The town has lost approximately 41 of its tax base Due to the separation of Essex junction from the town of Essex health insurance premiums have increased approximately 20 percent And inflation as we all know in our household budgets Has been driving up many costs. This includes contractual raises to staff general supplies gasoline heating costs Road salt pretty much everything in our homes, which also affects our town budget For cost savings and efficiencies Essex junction, even though we have separated will continue to pay toward the police department We have a contract that we negotiated with the city of Essex junction to maintain police services Assessing services and also for half of fiscal year 2024 senior services. So the senior center Regional expenses including green mountain transit The county tax Chittenden county regional planning commission, which provides a lot of planning services to the town of Essex And the Vermont league of cities and cities and towns, excuse me Those dues are decreasing in accordance with The smaller population and or the grand list Depending on the funding model for those entities The county and regional and health and human services combined decrease Equates to $422,888 when compared to the fiscal year 23 budget The conservation reserved fund contribution was also reduced The capital transfers out of the operating budget were level funded When compared to fiscal year 23 Human services funding which makes up one percent of the budget will decrease again with a smaller budget That contribution will also decrease in kind Overtime budgets were reduced to better reflect historical spending. So bringing those in line with actual state So we're not over budgeting and our expected expense in that line Is smaller Also, the police are being funded at 90 percent to better approximate historical spending Due to staff shortages. I believe Greg helped me out here. They've had four vacancies It fluctuates depending on we hire an officer than we lose an officer But it's typically anywhere from four or five Officers that were short, right? So instead of budgeting for a full force since we have historically had those vacancies on the books We're bringing spending anticipated spending more in line with actuals More general fund highlights include a variety of staffing changes This includes the clerk's office decreasing from three full-time equivalents to two Also, those two FTEs will solely serve the town in fiscal year 24 As opposed to also serving the city of Essex Junction So right sizing that that department The Essex free library is proposed to have five additional Hours of non-substitute librarians per week. This will help with coverage Fun fact. We actually went on a department tour last week Was able to see the library and hear about The increased utilization of the library Particularly due to coveted, but it's good to see that continuing going forward public works will increase one position from Seven tenths of a full-time equivalent to a full full-time equivalent This will allow more stable staffing Which is particularly important with coveted still present in the world today Allows them to have more stable staffing And cover job turnover upcoming retirements. It just gives that stability for staff and also stability of services One park's maintenance employee will be split with senior services to provide van coverage Fewer budgeted hours the the driver hours would decrease And the parks will retain two and a half full-time equivalents The allocation of personnel costs between the general fund and enterprise funds have been updated Enterprise funds are essentially self-sustaining funds So Updating that again to reflect actuals actual state Fire department pay rates are increasing for the first time in five years From 15 and a half dollars an hour to 17 dollars an hour Firefighters will again be paid for training This was eliminated several years ago to more closely aligned to the s-extruction fire department for consistency across both new municipalities Admin hours would increase for officers To better reflect work expectations within a volunteer department And also the budget is being adjusted to better reflect the expected attendance And all said and done this results in a net decrease to the fire salary budget And greg if you have anything to add feel free to chime in Additional costs are coming Uh Particularly from sx rescue sx rescue is a nonprofit organization providing ambulance services to Not only the town but for neighboring municipalities In order to ensure this 24 7 essential service sx rescue has requested An increase in their contribution uh to 18 dollars per capita This is up from nine or 10 dollars and 91 cents in the f y 23 budget Now because of separation It will look as though there is a decrease or yes a decrease in that overall line item There is an overall decrease in that line item However, when you take into consideration the reduced population It's reflective of a 65 percent increase for sx rescue up over the increase from last year Uh fund balance the select board did Utilize six hundred and fifteen thousand seven hundred dollars From fund balance to offset the tax rate Costs in it community development And economic development departments those are also included in that utilization of fund balance as well Uh We've gotten a question many times around well what services are no longer going to be shared What services will be shared? We already talked about the services that that will be shared Uh no longer being shared our it So it will solely Serve the town of sx the clerk's office as mentioned before Will solely serve and be right sized for the town's needs And the recreation and senior services after december 31 of this year Will no longer be shared So let's review the overall details of the budget Get into the line items For the proposed fiscal year 24 budget, uh the total proposed budget is roughly 15.4 million dollars This is a decrease of 1.27 million from f y 23 The overall budget is actually Decreasing by 7.6 percent Uh the estimated tax levy Is decreasing by 27.7 and we can get into the details of what exactly tax levy means I'm sure these are these are new new terms for some folks The grand list change, uh again due to the separation of uh the city from the town The grand list the funding mechanism for our budget Is decreased by 40.8 percent so roughly 41 percent This results in an estimated tax rate change of 22 percent Um and you can see on the bottom of the slide it does go into Uh why the tax rate increase differs from the budget decrease Again 40 percent 41 percent reduction. Um, it just means that the town has a smaller tax base To fund its budget from to raise revenue from uh in order to fund the services of the town Even though the budget and the levy are decreasing Yeah smaller tax base results in higher than normal tax rate increase. Uh, this was expected Throughout conversations with merger throughout conversations with separation This is pretty much in line with what was expected with a merger proposal and what was expected With the separation discussions Non-tax revenue sources increased with the sharing of police and assessing services with the city of the sx junction So you'll see that those are listed as revenue in the actual budget And it also Has an estimated increase in the grand list of 1 percent This is included in the tax rate. It's slightly lower than the three-year average just to be on the conservative side We don't want to say. Oh, yeah, our grand list is going to increase by 3 percent And then not realize that income So if we look more specifically at what changes are in the fy 24 budget compared to the fy 23 budget The transfers to the city Previously we were transfer transferring 1,610,137 to the city uh the then village when we um Moved forward with the the fy 23 budget. Those will no longer happen. Uh, so right off the top. That's a 1.6 million dollar savings if you will Appropriations again sx rescue green mountain transit. I believe the winoski park district is in there the county tax Those are decreasing 462,357 dollars Again, that's due to the decrease in population Personnel costs including benefits uh up 614,580 dollars um There are Many reasons for this Um, well many things that go into this one particular line item Uh, for instance, regular salaries are increasing that accounts for only 178,314 of that 614,000 Part-time salaries are decreasing just over 70,000 Over time again, right sizing the number of this in the overtime Budget that's decreasing by just shy of 37,000 Um group insurance. We all know insurance rates are going up. Um, just over a quarter of a million dollars Uh social security retirement workers comp Benefits in general uh rate on down the line Insurance, um, is this for the town? That's our property and casualty insurance. Yep. The um the Health benefits health insurance are wrapped into the personnel costs. Okay Yep, so those are increasing just over 142,000 dollars Um inflation salt sand gravel fuel gasoline everything that it takes For our highway department to maintain the roads and more 42,000 dollars Professional services is going up 12,641 Vehicle purchases are actually down by 25,000 Uh election expenses are reducing by just under 20,000 dollars And the net of all other increases and decreases, you know, there's slight changes in each line item. Those equate to um 31 and a half thousand dollars, but obviously we don't have enough time to to break all of those out So all of this, uh Represents a net decrease in the operating budget of 1 point 1.3 million dollars little under So there are some overall assumptions for these numbers. Uh, the first is assuming that the average residence value is $280,000 Again, that number is not indicative of the actual value of your home. So if you go on to zillow That's not what that number refers to. Uh, it's your actual assessed value from 2007 They'll believe so. Yes. Yep. Uh, again, grand list growth of 1% airing on the conservative side And using 615,700 dollars from fund balance So our tax impact, uh, our fy 23 rate was just over 55 cents The fy 24 estimated rate, uh, just over 67 cents again 22 increase, uh the Change on Again, the average residence value of 280 thousand dollars is $340 20 cents annually So one might ask what do my tax dollars fund? What do I get from my what value do I get for my money? Uh, this chart has a breakdown of you know on The estimated average that the average 280 thousand dollar home the services that you get and what it costs to maintain those services So some of the biggest the biggest piece here is public works. Um, they do a ton of things $521 a year gets you paved roads and Plowed roads and sidewalks. Um Yeah, all of the maintenance that that that is really behind the scenes and you don't see on a daily basis So that is our proposed fy 24 budget. Um We just want to thank you for your continued generosity and support of the town budget That allows us to maintain the high quality services. Uh that make sx such a great community And I'd also like to give a shout out to staff who do a great job continue to do a great job And help us out with things like this. Thank you. We're happy to do it Thanks so much Tracey. So, uh, that's the proposed budget I know there are also a couple of items some questions on the ballot this year for town meeting day in sx Do you want to talk a little bit about those and what voters might expect to see there? Yes, uh, so some of the questions obviously the budget is is a big one Uh, also on the budget, there will be a question about adding one cent to the capital tax Now the capital tax funds All of these projects around the city are excuse me the town, but with the loss of the city We've lost 1.4 cents So this is a step to make up that difference to get us back to Where we were prior to separation back with fy 23 So that will be on the ballot also, uh, there are multiple questions regarding the amending the charter So the select board appointed a charter review committee. They came back to us with a ton of edits Work is greatly appreciated, but we could only take a small chunk In this round So one of them is the authority to adopt and enforce ordinances setting license fees So for instance, if you want to set off fireworks If you're, you know, having a wedding you want to set off fireworks being able to charge, uh, license fees for those sorts of things The other is giving the select board the power to enact an ordinance to protect tenants From eviction without just cause so the language is Fairly open But it would then allow the select board to create an ordinance that goes into detail around what that process would be Uh, it also includes A question around the ability to recall select board members So it would give, uh, the power to anyone Within the town to be able to petition for A vote within 60 days to recall a select board member And also, uh, creating a development review board So this would replace the zoning board of adjustment So we would have a planning commission that Focuses just on the planning, uh, the town plan, the zoning regulations, things of that sort And it would move all review of development proposals or applications To a different board to interpret those zoning regulations to decide whether An application is approved or it needs to go back to be amended And then the election of Two select board members, uh, and a moderator Okay, that's a lot of so each of those charter changes are Um distinct items or they all bundled into one question. Correct We wanted to give voters a menu if you will, um around, you know, it's not one big package They should stand on their own Also, it's a reorganization of the charter. That's also on The ballot so that it it flows better There aren't I think there's one Slate language change. I'm not Remembering at the moment what that is. Yeah, the charter review committee when they went through their process They suggested a reorganization of the charter to help it flow better to be able to Um be more readable digestible to the average layperson Um, once the town attorney took a look took a look at it There was one section that he said it was irrelevant And I'm trying to remember what that is and I'm blanking at the moment So it's a very small change, but it's basically something that um, the town attorney considered was part of the reorganization It's part of stuff. That's just not applicable anymore in town I believe the phrase was non substantive. That's right But just for readability flow is better easier to find things And so how did you say there were a few? There were quite a few suggestions From the from the committee and that these bubbled to the surface You talk a little bit about how these were the ones that made it onto the ballot of the ones that were Kind of brought forward by the committee. Sure. I think some of it. We did have a member of our community Who had spoken to us multiple times around the recall language? um, which I think is important to Give voters the ability if there is something egregious that a select board member does the community can vote to say Like you are not fit for this position um, so we We felt strongly about including that because it was a change that was advocated for by a resident on multiple occasions Just cause eviction has been in Montpelier I think a few times Last session if i'm not mistaken it Failed a governor's veto override by one vote Um, so the only ability to enact that is to put it in our charter Reorganizing the charter it was sort of low hanging fruit if you will Just to update for best practice We had previously discussed Updating the fees we were charging for dog licenses But we were unable to do that Because we did not have language in our charter which gave us the authority to do that So this would allow us to update based on, you know, sending a self-stamped envelope or you know Different impacts that may be specific to the town of Essex to update those fees got you okay Thanks for that information tracy Greg is there anything that you want to chime in here and add before we wrap up? We have maybe a few minutes left. Sure. I'll just put in a plug for town meeting Essex starts on march 6th It's the the monday before town meeting day 7 30. It's going to be a new location this year We're going to be moving it into the town of Essex. It's been held at Essex high school for Years and years and years With Essex high school now being in the city of Essex Junction The select board was interested in bringing town meeting to the town So we've we've partnered with the Essex experience. We'll be holding town meeting at the Essex cinemas and the t-rex theater There's going to be popcorn. I'm just finding out today. So some snacks for folks And as part of that There's one question That's going to be voted on for the floor this year about moving all future business to australian ballot So there is still a voice vote that we're going to be having at town meeting this year If that passes next year all information or all questions would be by ballot We would still have an informational town meeting But encourage people to come out have some popcorn Vote on that we always have an item about public to be heard So it's a great chance for people to come out and share their thoughts or give their perspectives on something That may not be on the agenda, but just something that's on their mind or always looking to do Hear from a residence and town meeting is a great time to do that And the other thing we're going to have at town meeting This is the first time we do an in-person town meeting in about I think three years Since covet's been in effect One of the things we used to do was invite all of our boards committees Municipal departments to set up a table informational booth So people coming to town meeting can have a chance to meet with their volunteers meet with staff and learn about What's happening in town and potentially get interested in volunteering So we'll have that again this year and looking forward to they have to return to in-person town meeting. That's great That's excellent And if folks cannot make it to vote in person Can you talk a little bit about the process for mailing in a ballot? What that looks like sure any resident can request about a ballot by calling the clerk's office at 802-878-1341 Also by I know there's too many numbers in my in my brain tonight Also by going to the secretary of state's website It's a really simple process. You just go If you don't have an account create an account And you can request any ballot from there. You can do it ahead of time Super easy And if you have questions on what that process looks like and how to do that again, you can always call the town clerk's office 802-878-1341 Okay And they'd be happy to help you out. Great. Thank you so much. Tracy. Thank you. Greg for joining us I think that about wraps things up here So thank you for tuning in to town meeting tv's ongoing coverage of local candidates Local budgets and ballot items for town meeting day this year You can find this forum and others that have been recorded at our website ch17.tv or on our town meeting tv youtube channel And most importantly, don't forget to go out and vote or attend a town meeting day this year on march 7th and keep in mind As tracy sort of alluded to that some of the That the ballots are not being automatically mailed out to this year in a lot of towns The way that they have been in the past couple of years. So please check with your local clerk To request a ballot or make sure to get out to the polls or out to your town meeting day on march 7th Thank you so much for watching town meeting tv. Have a great evening