Waterford — The Board of Selectmen passed its suggested $32 million operating budget for fiscal year 2017 Thursday, moving it on to the Board of Finance to consider during own budget meetings next month.

The proposed budget represents an increase of $710,059, or 2.27 percent, from the operating budget adopted for the 2016 fiscal year.

The biggest numerical increases came from the police and emergency services departments.

Most of the police budget increase represents expected salary and overtime hikes following union negotiations, which are currently underway, according to Police Chief Brett Mahoney.

Other increases came from new training responsibilities that are no longer funded by the state and replacements for decades-old furniture in the station, he said.

Line items for the public works and emergency management departments each went up by about $100,000 for union-negotiated salary increases.

The town will save money on its health insurance obligations, which First Selectman Daniel Steward said staff worked hard to negotiate down by almost $90,000.

The town's Flood and Erosion Control Board had the proposed budget's biggest percent increase.

That board's budget would go up by 4,800, or 542 percent, mostly to cover the cost of a bathymetric study to assess the extent of erosion damage in Keeney Cove, Steward said.

The selectmen also passed their proposal for the fiscal year 2017 Capital Improvements Plan, which totaled $12,117,073, up 25.8 percent from last year.

Steward said he focused on infrastructure improvements while crafting this year's budget for capital projects in response to an emphasis during his campaign for the office last year.

Selectman Peter M. Davis, who ran against Steward for the first selectman position in November, was critical of Steward's capital planning abilities, saying during a debate that Steward had not done enough to anticipate Waterford's future infrastructure needs.

Steward said he responded by pushing up several projects, including road improvements and a new parking lot at the police department.

The CIP will also cover needed expenses like mandated dashboard cameras in police cruisers and the replacement of four underground gas and diesel tanks at the police department and the public works building.

"We put a lot of money into capital," he said. "Now that's up to the Board of Finance to see what they want to do with it."

The Board of Finance will begin its budget hearings in March.

The board can only cut from the selectmen's budget proposal, not add, and it will examine each line item for possible decreases before passing its proposal on to the Representative Town Meeting.

The final town budget will be affected by the education budget passed by the school board, which is holding preliminary budget hearings this month.

m.shanahan@theday.com

Twitter: @martha_shan