SEYMOUR – The town’s finance board will hold the first of two budget public hearings at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (March 4) at town hall.
Finance board chairman Richard Demko said the board is about halfway through reviewing department head budget requests for fiscal year 2026-2027. He said the hearing will allow residents an opportunity to weigh in on what they’ve heard so far.
Last year, voters approved a $68.2 million town and school budget for fiscal year 2025 –2026. The budget included a town budget of $26,853,952 and a school budget of $41,340,139.
“We are a bit behind due to snow days, so we won’t have even the slightest picture of what things are looking like for at least a few weeks,” Demko said. “All of our budget presentations (on department head requests) are on YouTube for anyone to view, but again there is a lot to be done to those requests before even having the slightest idea of a bottom line or estimated budget figure.”
The finance board has been holding town budget meetings on Monday and Wednesday since the beginning of February. During those meetings, the members have been reviewing funding requests from the various town departments for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
“We still have about eight departments to hear from along with the Board of Education and the First Selectwoman’s budgets,” Demko said. “The purpose of this hearing is to give residents an extra opportunity to speak on what they have heard up to this point with the department presentations.”
A complete list of the finance board’s public meetings can be found on the town’s website.
Some of those meeting dates may change due to meetings being cancelled because of snow.
The original schedule had the finance board meeting at 7 p.m. March 9 to review the Board of Education budget, and at 7 p.m. March 11 to hear First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis present her budget.
Those dates could change, and Demko said he’d have a better handle on whether the finance board can stick to its original schedule to review the school budget and Drugonis’ budget after the finance board meets Monday (March 2).
The school board’s proposed budget totals $43.3 million. Click here for a previous Valley Indy story.
The request is $1.9 million, or 4.7 percent, more than the current school budget. The proposed school budget includes increases of $738,069 and $183,669 in certified and non-certified staff pay raises.
The increases were part of a three-year teacher’s contract approved in December 2024, with 2.5 percent raises each year of the contract.
In Seymour, the budget goes to an annual town meeting, where residents have the chance to impact the proposed budget’s bottom line if enough people attend the meeting.
The public will have final say over the town and school budgets during a town wide referendum in the spring.
Check out the town’s YouTube page to watch board of finance and Board of Selectpersons livestreams.