It’s budget time again, and I would like to say things are good, but unfortunately they are not. We all know the current condition of the state’s budget.

For the current fiscal year we were to receive $389,789 in state funds. The largest portion of this was in Town Aid Road (TAR) funds totaling $241,494. We received half of this during the first six months of the fiscal year. Last week we were told that we will not be receiving the balance. This will reduce the funds we will receive from the state to $268,789.

With proposed further reductions for fiscal year 2018/19, the projected funds for the Town of Norfolk are $286,068. The Education Cost Sharing (ECS) funds will be reduced to zero from $18,194 for this fiscal year. Although Norfolk is to receive $242,068 in TAR funds in 2018/19, we will see.

Things are not all bad. Our Board of Finance has done an unbelievable job over the years in keeping budget increases to a minimum, and I am sure they will put the same effort in this year. There are possibilities for state and federal grants, and we will look at every opportunity.

As with our own homes, we still need to do the needed repairs and updates in order to keep our properties up to date. We will continue to review our capital plan and do what we can with the available funds.