Waterford — The Board of Selectmen completed its budget meetings last week and approved a $35.9 million general government budget for 2022-23 that shows a $1.3 million or 3.85% increase.

Some of that increase will be offset by the $11.2 million capital and debt service budget approved by the board. That budget shows a $548,731 or 4.65% decrease.   

The Board of Education is expected to finalize its proposed budget on Feb. 24. That proposal currently stands at $52.1 million with a 2.9% increase.    

The Board of Selectmen's proposed budgets, along with the Board of Education's budget, will be reviewed by the Board of Finance in March and a final decision will be made by the Representative Town Meeting in May. Budget summaries can be found on the town website.

The board voted 2-1 last week to approve the general government and capital/debt budget with Democratic Selectwoman Beth Sabilia in opposition. Sabilia said she voted against the budget not because she opposed funding for any department but because she is frustrated about what she called the town's way of saving an excessive amount of "rainy day money," or unused capital funds.

"Waterford is very fortunate to do things that other municipalities cannot do," Sabilia said in a final remark. "We're sitting on a lot of money that was taxed but have not used."

She said the capital fund balance stands at $22 million and the Board of Finance recommends capital funds are kept at about 13% of the overall town budget, or about $12 million to $13 million.

She said keeping the extra amount on hand was not "fair to the taxpayers."

First Selectman Rob Brule said the money is saved for long-range fiscal plans, keeping in mind that Millstone will one day close.

Sabilia also questioned why the capital funds were not going toward departments that needed it but presented a proposed budget with no increase as Brule requested. Brule said he had asked department heads to present budgets with an increase as close to zero percent as possible.

On Feb. 8, Sabilia voted no to the public works departmental budget of $4.7 million after its director, Gary Schneider, listed many stresses on the budget, such as funding for environmental permitting and tree work, but requested no increase from the current budget.

According to the public works' budget summary, the department is requesting half of the funds it needs to complete studies of the town's stormwater discharge to ensure it is compliant with state requirements, a project that totals roughly $110,000. At the meeting, Schneider said the trees the department needs to cut down exceeds the money the town allocates each year for the work but he is working with Eversource to cut some of the trees.

When asked by Sabilia why there was a significant budget cut to highway materials, Schneider said it was done ensure there is no increase in his budget. Sabilia said the department should use some of the capital funds to address those needs. The public works budget passed with the approval of Brule and Selectwoman Jody Nazarchyk.

The vast majority of departmental budgets were approved by the selectmen between Feb. 2-3, with most asking for less than a 1% increase. The budgets approved by the selectmen last week, however, did show some significant increases, decreases and changes to departments.

Fire Services requested $3.4 million which was $82,386 more than its current budget. Driving the increase is the addition of an assistant director position to handle the training, health, safety and daily supervision of the career and part-time firefighters as well volunteers.

"I can't do it all," Michael Howley, director of fire services, said.

Howley added that the assistant director would help with administrative work, data management and incident command.

Approved in December, the town's new contract with its union of career firefighters also adds and subtracts to the budget. The contract calls for two additional full-time firefighters, coverage seven days a week and a schedule in which each full-time  firefighter works a 24-hour workday and then has 48 hours off. According to the budget summary, the changes results in a 4.18% budget decrease.

"I am proud of the work our Director of Fire Services, Michael Howley, has accomplished in such a short time," Brule said. "We approved a responsible and monumental fire budget which highlights increased staffing, incident command, training and technology upgrades."

The retirement commission has a 11.44% increase from its current budget, having been underfunded in previous years, said Sue Driscoll, chairwoman of the commission. The $6.3 million budget request from the commission will help pay for employee pensions that have not been adequately funded in the past.