The Board of Finance Thursday shaved off roughly $170,000 from the 2011 – 2012 budget after it was rejected by voters Tuesday.
The number includes about $20,000 trimmed from the school district’s bottom line.
The next step is to finalize the budget adjustments at a meeting Monday in Town Hall.
Click here to watch Thursday’s meeting.
The school and town budgets will be put to voters for a second time on May 10.
“We cut spending down by about $170,000, the majority on the town side and a little on the board of ed side, and hopefully we’ll find more by Monday that we can help reduce eve further, and it will save taxpayers about $30 in taxes,” said Finance Board Chairman Robert Koskelowski.
The new budget could mean $172 more a year in taxes for a home assessed at $200,000, instead of the $200 more that was rejected Tuesday.
Most of the action Thursday was taking advantage of cost savings in areas like car insurance and health insurance. Some of those agreements were tweaked so the prices were lower than forecasted when the budget was prepared.
People who spoke during the public comment portion of Thursday’s meeting included parents Cindy Dion and Jen Magri, who asked the board to avoid deep cuts in education.
Resident Michele Pavlik urged the Finance Board to tackle the high labor contract costs, which she said drives most of the yearly budget increases.
