By Wiley Wood

 

Budget discussions this past month were led off by the Board of Selectmen,

which presented its preliminary budget to the Board of Finance on April 2. Total

expenditures for the town, exclusive of education, were set at $3,371,800, an

increase of 4-percent or $131,550 over last year.

 

A number of items under public safety showed increases this year. The fire

department has asked for a 10-percent hike in its budget, partly to replace

antiquated fire pagers and partly to have the maintenance and testing on its 12,000

feet of fire hose performed by an outside vendor. Aquarion has also increased the

cost of water at hydrants. And costs for the resident trooper are going up.

 

Among the items that decreased, First Selectman Sue Dyer points to the electricity

bill for street lamps in downtown Norfolk. After the lamps were converted last fall

to induction lighting, electricity usage went from 1200 kilowatt hours to 200-300

kilowatt hours per month.

 

The education component of Norfolk’s budget was presented to the Board of

Finance in two segments, the first arriving in March from the Northwest Regional 7

Board of Education, which expects 112 students from Norfolk next year. The board

announced a budget increase of 2.48 percent. Norfolk’s share, at $1,749,322 last

year, will fall by $8,000—the assessment is on a per-student basis.

 

The second segment came on April 9 when the Botelle Board of Education

proposed its budget for the Botelle School. At $2,625,000, this represents a five-

percent rise over last year, despite a zero increase in teacher salaries for the

coming year. Enrollment at Botelle is expected to decline in the fall of 2013 to about

110 students, a 10-percent drop, due to a large graduating sixth-grade class and a

small incoming one.

 

The Norfolk/Colebrook Regional School Study Committee, whose task is to consider

amalgamating the primary schools in the two towns, met for the first time on March

28. The State-appointed consultant, Matthew Venhorst, was introduced, and officers

were elected. Arrangements were made to solicit proposals from a range of outside

educational consultants including, but not limited to, Education Connection, which

made the preliminary study on regionalization. The committee’s next meeting is at 7

p.m. on May 29 at Botelle School.

 

The grand list, or total assessed value of all taxable property in Norfolk, remained

static this year. Any budget increase will therefore cause an increase in the mill

rate. At an April 24 meeting, Board of Finance Chairman Michael Sconyers advocated

for keeping the budget to a one-percent rise overall. “Any increase we make here

is going to fall on the property owners’ shoulders,” said Sconyers. Accordingly,

$435,000 was transferred from the town’s Positive Fund Balance and $107,000 cut

from overall spending, with the cuts falling equally to the general government and

Botelle budgets. The resulting one-percent increase translates to a bump of .09 to

the mill rate, or 20.27.

 

A State-mandated revaluation of Norfolk properties is scheduled for October, 2013.

Known as a “statistical revaluation,” it is based on comparable sales rather than a

physical assessment of properties, as happens every 10 years. Sales have been

few. Dyer reports that only $6,000 have been collected in conveyance tax through

the month of February, where the town might expect $20,000 or more in a normal

year.

 

The Regional 7 budget will be presented to Norfolk taxpayers for a referendum vote

at the Botelle School on May 7 from 12 to 8 p.m.

 

The board of finance expects, as of this writing, to hold a budget hearing on

Monday, April 29 and to present the 2013-2014 budget for a vote at the annual town

meeting on May 13.