Marginally Higher Budget and Mill Rate Approved at Annual Town Meeting
By Wiley Wood

The citizens of Norfolk approved a budget at the annual town meeting on May 13. Total spending on education and general government is to rise by 1.2 percent. The mill rate is rising four hundredths of a mill to 20.22, adding 4 cents’ property tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value.
One of the town’s two representatives to the Regional 7 Board of Education, Donald Torrant, was reappointed to another four-year term. The other representative is Debbie Bell.
An amendment to the town code was brought forward by the zoning commission to allow the $60 fee for a zoning permit to apply to sheds, outbuildings and decks of up to 250 square feet. Previously, the fee applied only to structures of 150 square feet or less. The amendment passed.
Total spending for the town was set at $7,699,873, up $92,000 from last year. Fifty-six percent will be spent on education.
The total cost of running the Botelle School in 2013-2014 will be $2,550,000, up $50,000 from last year. The bill for Norfolk middle-schoolers and high-schoolers in the Regional 7 system will be $1,741,214, down $8,000.
Total spending on general government rose $50,000 this year to $3,408,659.
Questions were raised at the meeting about changes to the budget made between the annual budget hearing, when the board of finance first aired its proposed budget publicly, and the annual town meeting.
Adjustments were made to the proposed budget at a special meeting of the board of finance after the budget hearing. Representatives from the board of selectmen and the board of finance were present at that meeting. Notice of the special meeting and an agenda were posted 24-hours prior to the meeting time on the town hall bulletin boards.
Notice of special meetings is often, though not always, posted on the town’s website. Town Clerk Linda Perkins suggests that those interested in following the business of a particular committee can call her for last-minute information or ask to be put on the committee’s email list.