 Hello, and thank you for tuning into Town Meeting TV's ongoing coverage of Town Meeting Day 2024. My name is Bobby Lucia. This program is one in a series of forums that we host in advance of Town Meeting Day, which this year is on Tuesday, March 5th, which features municipal officials explaining what you'll see on your ballot, as well as candidates running for local office. On tonight's program, we're diving into the proposed budget and ballot questions for the town of Essex, and we're joined by town manager Greg Duggan, as well as select board chair Andy Watts. Thank you so much for joining us, guys. Thank you for having us. Awesome. And you can hear us OK, Andy? Here. Great. Awesome. So before we get started, just a reminder that if you're tuning in live, we welcome your questions anytime at 802-862-3966. That's 802-862-3966. If you have any questions about the presentation, we can put your call live on the air. So with that, Greg, I will hand it over to you as we pull up your slides and hear a bit about what Brillington, or I'm sorry, Essex residents will see on the ballot this year. Sure. So just a really quick overview of the ballot, and maybe I'll turn it over to Andy. We do have some PowerPoints. We've got five questions on the ballot this year. The first one is whether or not the town should adopt a fiscal year budget for fiscal year 25. There's also a question about adopting the proposed 2024 town plan. In addition to that, we have two voter-backed petitions. One of them is to include all commercial tax stabilization agreements within the annual report. And the second one is to list all the names, positions, titles, salaries, and benefits of all town employees, also in the annual report. The last thing that's on the ballot is the two elections. We have a moderator seat, a vacancy for one year term, and one select board seat for a three-year term. So that's a quick overview. And with that, I can jump into the budget and go from there. Sounds good. All right. Andy, are you seeing that PowerPoint? Is a PowerPoint showing up? I think it is. PowerPoint is up. OK. All right. So let's talk about the budget. Can you hear me? I just want to make sure you're hearing me. Yep. OK. Move on to the next slide. This is a budget for fiscal year 2025. The select board asked the town manager to give us the select board of budget with a couple of goals in mind. The first was to limit the increase to the tax rate increase to 5% or less. Last year, we had a fairly substantial municipal tax rate increase of 22% or 23%, largely driven by the separation of S-extinction from the town. We're still feeling a little bit of that this year with our increase in expect to maybe have a year or two more that have larger impacts associated with that separation. So I can no longer see the presentation. Next thing was to maintain and improve the pedestrian trail network. We're also looking to increase our outreach and engagement with the public. We'd like to staff to find ways to increase revenue streams, make sure that we're applying for all the grants that we are able to. And also, we'd like to put more focus on our capital needs. There's because of the separation of S-extinction, we lost a significant portion of our tax base. And so our capital tax, we do currently have a 3 cent capital tax. It doesn't quite raise enough for us to support our capital needs going into the future. And so we're asking to get us onto a path to be in a better place there. Also, one of the exciting things that happened this past year is we purchased some land in Essex to move our town hall back into our town with the separation. Our town hall is now no longer in Essex. And so we've purchased a land at 80 and 90 Upper Main Street. And we're looking forward to working to develop that site. OK, move on to the next slide. OK, so this budget, we will not be cutting any existing services. Some of the challenges associated with this budget, our health insurance premiums increases on the order of 13% or 14%. Inflation is everywhere. Everything has been impacted by recent inflation issues as have supply chain constraints. A lot of them associated with the pandemic and holdover from that. And it's just been more difficult to get major equipment and vehicles. We are budgeting our police department at 90% to better approximate what we've spent historically. We are not defunding our police. We are just budgeting slightly less than the police department has authorization to fully staff. But we're budgeting a little short because typically we've been short one or some number of officers and then that money ends up being underspent and ends up going into fund balance. We're just trying to limit that. Some of the savings that we have is we do have a contract with Essex Junction to provide them with police services. Police and assessing services, the assessing services goes away likely at the end of the FY25 fiscal year. So that's one of those other issues that will in the future affect our revenue streams. But it's helping us in this budget year. And then our capital transfers we're keeping flat from the prior year. With the reassessment going on, that 3 cent capital tax I mentioned earlier will raise additional money. And so we are looking to see how the reassessment plays out before we take another look at what our capital taxes may need to be in the future. OK, next slide. There's a right of staffing changes that are proposed that the library is going to add some additional hours to allow for additional programming and coverage. We do have a policy to have at least two folks in the library at all times. And so this will help us with keeping the library open as many hours as it needs to be. We're also shifting some folks around. Oh, we're adding a part-time administrative assistant to help the management team focus on long-term goals so that they're not bogged down by day-to-day stuff, adding an administrative assistant, and then also for the trails coordinator, we're adding a part-time trails coordinator to help with all the connectivity in town with all of our trails. And then folks have been shifted around. We have some enterprise funds and general funds. We're moving folks around to make sure that they're being funded out of the right sources. The senior center, we're eliminating the senior center coordinators since that's now as of the end of 2023 is now fully a Essex Junction venture. So we're no longer providing staffing for that. And the other thing that ended at the end of 2023 was a senior van service to the city. So we're reducing the number of drivers from three down to two. And with the separation complete between the town and the city, we don't need the extra help that we had been using in the finance department to help separate the two entities. Okay, next slide. For the fire department, we're adding stipends for volunteers to be on call. We're also increasing the pay rates, trying to be a little more competitive there, trying to encourage more coverage and more volunteerism. Again, we're shifting folks around from, I think this is more detail around shifting folks from a general fund to some of our enterprise funds. And then the last item there is the, our GIS coordinator position is participating, is working with the assessing office on the reassessment. And the city of Essex Junction is paying some of that costs. So we've moved the 10% of that position into the assessing department to help get support from the city on that work. Okay, next slide. Okay, so fund balance, we're using $398,100. Fund balance is money that's left over from prior years, money that wasn't spent. So we're using 325,000 of that to offset the tax increase this year. Again, this is part of the challenge of trying to keep the tax increases, you know, as low as practical. And then there's a list of four items that are one-time costs that we didn't want to add into the budgets. We're paying for those with the money we had left over from prior years. There's an economic development report. We're doing a first responder study to make sure that we're doing the right things with our EMS service, our fire department, making, you know, just trying to make sure in a coordinated effort with the rest of the areas that are supported by say our dispatch or by our other first responders that we've got the right things going on there. And then there's a couple of IT expenses, 5,000 for general IT and then 3,100 for some ARCS and REC IT activities. Next slide. The biggest changes that are going on for personnel costs and benefits are up 468,000. Our insurance is actually down. This is our workman's cop insurers because we had a safe year. Our rate has reduced, been reduced. Sand gravel, salt sand gravel, gasoline are all up because of inflation pressures. And then our professional services are also up. Again, that's largely due to the first responder study and economic development report that I mentioned earlier. Vehicle purchases are up 24,000. Vehicles are very getting more and more expensive every year. And then technology subscriptions are up as our summer construction services, which is largely paving. And this all adds up to a total increase of $705,269. Next slide. As Greg mentioned, our total proposed budget is 16.1 million. The change from last year is 705,000. That's a 4.58% increase in the budget. The tax levy change, the amount we need to collect in taxes is up 5.03%. We expect the grand list. That's the total value of all properties within the town. We expect that to increase less than 1%, 0.75%. And so that results in an estimated tax rate change of 4.24%, which is below the 5% that the select board had asked for. Next slide. Okay, so typical impact, if you look at an example residence value of 280,000, this is the assessed value, not necessarily at the market value, which is what your taxes are based on the assessed value, not on your market value. With the assumption of 0.75% grand list growth and that we're using at 398,000, fund balance, the typical home of 280,000, the tax rate in tax increase will be $80.36. This does not, yeah, the tax rate that's listed there, the 0.7053 does not include the 3 cent capital tax. And then there's a two-tenths of a penny local agreement rate that's not included there as well. Those are, the capital tax rate stays flat. That was voted on last year, the increase from 2 cents to 3 cents. And then the local agreement rate varies depending on various other contracts that we have with folks. Okay, next slide. Looking at the where your tax dollars go on that example home of 280,000, the biggest, bigger pieces are general government, then there's the police, then there's public works followed by culture and recreation, which is the library and the rec department and then fire and then capital. So this shows a where all of the, where all of your dollars will go. Okay, next slide. And that's it for the budget presentation. So we do have the PowerPoint for the other articles as well. Did you want to jump right into those or did you have questions or anything about the budget that we should look at? Well, I guess just, was there, so did you guys have public hearings about this budget before it was finalized and proposed? So I had a hard time understanding your question. I think you asked if we had public hearings. Yes. On the budget? Yep. Yeah, so we started working on the budget. I think our first meeting was, was it November, Greg, or was it October? Yeah, earlier mid-November, right? Yeah, so we've had many meetings where we've talked about the budget and we did have a public hearing. It was actually our last meeting, which was the 29th of January. So yeah, we had public hearings. We didn't have, actually didn't get any input at that public hearing, but we did have a lot of folks that did bring things up as we were developing the budget. And any input that changed things along the way or how input from folks adjusted the final product here? I don't recall any big items that were changed. Greg, am I missing something? I don't think so, Andy. There was a lot of questions that came from the select board. I think some of the questions that came up were from the public as well. So we spent a lot of time trying to get information for the select board to get you and help you make your decision. We did have some changes from the original presentation of the budget. Andy mentioned that the insurance was down quite a bit, which kudos to our safety committee for making that happen, but we had budgeted more for insurance originally. So as some of the numbers come in, that's where we're able to make some adjustments. But as far as policy changes or major input from the public, yeah, nothing really comes to mind. And what school district is the town of Essex? Essex-Westford School District. Okay, right. And that's, I'm not sure if we, because is the school budget also on the ballot in Essex or is that how that works? It's voted on a separate ballot. So there the school district vote is in April. So the town budgets first, what we just went through was strictly only the municipal budget. Right. But yes, voters will also have an opportunity to weigh in on the school district budget. Right, because I'm just, I see the change of $80 for the municipal tax rate, but I know that folks are also really tuned into the school budgets, impacting property tax rates and just, so that's separate from the, those are two separate increases, right? They would be. The tax bill contains all taxes. So the town sends out the tax bill, that includes the school taxes and the municipal taxes. So everybody only pays one bill. There is a breakdown between town and municipal. The town budget typically makes up about 25 to 30% of the total tax bill and the rest of it is the school. Right, right, okay. Well, you can find more information about the school budget, I assume on the Essex Westford School District website, but thanks for clarifying that, I just wanted to make sure. No, good questions. So yeah, you can jump into the ballot questions here. All right. Okay, so we have, as Greg mentioned, we have a couple of additional questions that will be on the ballot. Last year at our in-person town meeting, we did have the question whether to move all town business to the ballot. So all of our questions are on the ballot this year. And so the article two will be a question about shall the town of Essex adopt the proposed 2024 town plan? Greg, you're gonna move on to the next slide. It's, you know, we're required to update our town plan every eight years if we have one and we do. So we are in the process of updating it. The town plan is used to set all of the zoning and subdivision regulations. It's also used for grant work and also to develop our capital plan. And it gives direction to all of our municipal departments, boards and committees. And so it sets the direction for where the town's gonna go in the timeframe covered by the town plan. A lot of folks don't recognize or don't realize that this is the point to start with regard to influencing how the town develops. And so we did a lot of effort to get folks involved in the process of putting together the new town plan. And also involved all of our committees and commissions on this as well. There was a lot of the appropriate ones. And so this, you know, the plan paints a clear picture for the future, should help us to make Essex a great place. Also establishes transparency in a predictable public policy. All of our zoning regulations and subdivision regulations need to point back to the town plan, which has been voted on by the public. And it promotes, it helps us to make investments and manage our future costs. And we all know which direction we're going. We did have a number of public hearings associated with that statute requires us that the Planning Commission itself to have two public hearings, or to have one public hearing and then the select board to have two public hearings. We completed those in January. So there's a lot of public input went into this. Okay, next slide. We have two voter backed petitions. Vermont Statute says that if, I believe it's 5% of your population, of your registered voters sign a petition then the select board with minor updates and clarifications to language is required to put that on the ballot. So articles two and four are voter backed petitions. They came in, they were certified by our town clerk. And so we are putting them on the ballot. Article three is so shelled the voters require the town annual report to list the location of commercial properties that received municipal tax stabilization benefit within the report fiscal year, the amount of that benefit and property owners. And then in parentheses, it says the advisory, the select work did add the word advisory to make sure that voters know that these two ballots are advisory. We are required by statute to put the questions on the ballot, but there's nothing that binds this select board or future select boards to actually do what the question asks. And that's specific to this, these questions. There are questions that if they came forward we would have to execute. It's just that if there were statute or if we had ordinances that supported the question, then we would have to implement them. Having said that though, there's nothing that there's no intention to not implement these questions if they are approved. But we just wanna make it perfectly clear that the questions are not binding. And the first question there is about tax stabilization policy which allows the select board to enter into agreements with commercial properties to help them get started and they would have to have a benefit to the community things like adding a specific number of jobs is one that comes to mind. And so we have at this point to tax stabilization agreements. And so that's the information that we would then provide in our annual report. Okay, so the next question is shall the voters shall the voters require a town and a report to list the names? Position, title, salaries and benefits of all town employees within the annual report fiscal year. And again, we added the word advisory. Greg, if you can go to the next slide. When I think I kind of covered this earlier but the questions are not binding but there's no, as I said, there's no intention for us to not go forward with these should they pass. All of the information that's being requested here is public information anyway. Anyone can at any time request that information. No one has recently done so. If someone were to want to get this information again, it's public information. We would share it upon request and then that individual could do whatever they want with that information again because it's public. All right, next slide. And then the other questions we have are moderator we elect every year and then there's one select board seat open for a three year term. I think that's probably the last slide. That's it, yep. All right, any questions or? No, anything to add on your end, Greg? No, I think Andy pretty much covered it, thank you. Okay, awesome. Can you just share briefly? We only have a couple of minutes left here but just how folks can vote in Essex? Absolutely, Andy, you want me to take that one? I have some information here. So ballots will be available on February 14th for early voting. People can request a ballot by visiting the clerk's office at 81 Main Street in Essex Junction. They can email clerk at Essex.org or they can call 802-879-0413. So that's how people can get ballots. We also will have town meeting day. The polls obviously is the in-person voting option. That's gonna be at Essex Middle School on March 5th. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Awesome, great. Well, thank you both so much for joining us and sharing what's on the ballot this year in Essex and thank you for tuning in to town meeting TV's ongoing coverage of local candidates, local budgets and ballot items in advance of town meeting day. You can find this forum and many others at cctv.org slash 2024 or on our town meeting TV YouTube channel. Thanks so much, so long.