Groton — The Town Council will begin budget reviews this week, as it works to approve the 2022-23 budget and send it to the Representative Town Meeting by late April.

The first in a series of budget review sessions will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Thrive 55+ Active Living Center and virtually. The council is anticipated to adopt a budget on April 26, according to the budget schedule. The RTM then has until May 25 to take action and the council will set the tax rate for next year by June 9.

During a public hearing last week, Town Manager John Burt presented a proposed budget of $148,334,375 which calls for a 7.8% increase over the current budget. About two dozen people spoke at the hearing, offering comments that included supporting open space, Parks and Recreation, the resiliency and sustainability manager, and the Sutton Park Skate Park, or a desire to see savings from the Groton 2020 schools plan.

People spoke about the importance of programs, services and outreach that the libraries and Thrive 55+ Active Living Center provided, including during the pandemic. Burt said his budget proposal supports the requested amounts from Thrive 55+, the Groton Public Library, Bill Memorial Library and Mystic & Noank Library.

About 11 people spoke in support of investment in the skate park, particularly for lighting, and the meaningful impact the park had on their lives. The budget proposal includes a capital improvement project for Sutton Park.

Jeff Paprocki said he had a big part in getting the skate park built when he was younger and he now has a four-year contract with the town to maintain the park that is about to expire. He said he met a lot of good people through the park and his kids use it. While it started off with him wanting to build a park for himself and five friends who skated in town, now some of those people live elsewhere in the world and he has new friends and they would really like to see the park completed. 

"I think we live in a beautiful town, and I just want to try to keep it that way," he added.

Burt said the proposed budget uses $4 million of the town's fund balance, leaving the town with a healthy reserve. The proposal would lower the tax rate to 22.4 mills next year, or a decrease of 3.58 mills from the current rate. Burt said the five-year revaluation just ended and home values increased during the pandemic, so the town would have excess funds if it collected at the current rate.

k.drelich@theday.com