Officials ready FY2013 budget

NORTH CANAAN — Budget proposals for the fiscal year 2012-13 are on the minds of town and school officials. The new budget year will begin July 1, and will as always be preceded by months of crunching numbers. Local needs, regional school needs, state grants and changes, or not, in the grand list of taxable properties will all be considered to come up with workable plans to meet the town’s needs.The Board of Selectmen (BOS) is responsible for budgeting for salaries of municipal workers and Town Hall operating expenses; maintenance and capital improvements; recreation and town-owned buildings and property; and of course snow plowing.The Board of Education (BOE) is charged with meeting all expenses of North Canaan Elementary School, including bus transportation for students.Both proposals are eventually combined into a single grand total, as approved by the Board of Finance (BOF), for comment at a public hearing in April and consideration by voters at a town meeting in May. Now is the time for people to weigh in with concerns and ideas about future spending. All three boards will be holding budgeting workshops and discussing proposals at regular and special meetings between now and then. All are open to the public. The regional school assessment is a part of the Region One School District budget. It goes to a vote at a regionwide referendum in early May. It represents a significant percentage of what the town must raise in taxes and other revenue sources. The mill or tax rate for the coming year will be based in part on that assessment. The public can be part of that process by attending Region One board meetings and a regional public hearing, contacting town representatives on the board and voting.The Board of Education is tentatively scheduled to present its budget to the Board of Finance on March 20 at 7:30 p.m. at North Canaan Elementary School. The Board of Selectmen will present on March 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.A public hearing on both is set for April 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.A town meeting to vote on the combined budgets will be held May 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.There are two more budgets that will be considered by taxpayers here, both for the Canaan Fire District (CFD). The CFD annually presents spending plans for the sewer treatment plant, and for other services and capital projects within the district borders, determined by where sewer is available. CFD also is responsible for things like sidewalk building, maintenance and plowing, and some streetlights and fire hydrants. They levy a small tax on property in the district and charge an annual user fee to those hooked up to the sewer. Those budgets are typically presented and approved at a town meeting in March.

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