Springfield budget up 3.8 percent

The proposed Springfield town budget of $10.2 million for the upcoming fiscal year is up 3.8 percent over the current spending plan.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20141209/NEWS02/712099929

Published December 9, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Springfield budget up 3.8 percent By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — The proposed Springfield town budget of $10.2 million for the upcoming fiscal year is up 3.8 percent over the current spending plan. The budget was unveiled Monday night at a Springfield Select Board meeting. Town Manager Thomas Yennerell said the proposed budget of $10,295,571 is $390,900 more than the current budget. The budget, if adopted, would go into effect July 1, 2015. He attributed the increase to new contracts with the town’s unionized employees, and the first bond payment on the town’s $4.5 million combined stormwater project, which was completed a few years ago. The first bond payment is $191,000, he said. Yennerell, who came on board at town manager Nov. 17, said it had been an intense three weeks working on the budget and meeting department heads. He said the proposal — which will undergo review by both the Select Board and the town’s budget committee, would need a 5.9 cent tax increase, which he said was a 3.8 percent increase. “We expect a modest increase in the grand list,” he said. The Select Board is expected to finalize new contracts with two of its town employee unions Monday night — with the public works department and the library. Yennerell said the contract with the police union was close to being finalized, and the fire department union budget also needed to be finalized. He said the two contracts that would be ratified called for a 30-cent-an-hour increase for employees, rather than a percentage increase. That is $12 a week for someone working a straight 40-hour work week, or $624 a year. There are approximately 90 town employees. Yennerell said that the town decided to go for an hourly increase rather than a percentage increase because it is an equal raise across all pay grades. In addition to the proposed pay raise for employees and the first bond payment, Yennerell’s budget includes $500,000 for paving in the public works budget, and $100,000 for “road reconstruction.”