Montville — The Town Council voted unanimously to approve an amended fiscal year 2022-23 town budget of $64,663,974.

The approved budget represents a $951,810 decrease from Mayor Ronald McDaniel’s proposed budget of $65,615,784.

The tax rate for the new fiscal year was set at 26.71 mills. Finance Director Theresa Hart said there would be a “very slight” tax increase.

Town Council Chairman Thomas McNally said by phone Wednesday that the increase was approximately an additional $119 per year on a home valued at $250,000.

The last of three public hearings was held at the opening of the meeting prior to the Town Council amending the budget line by line Tuesday at the Town Hall.

Wills Pike, member of both the Board of Education and Planning and Zoning Commission, spoke at the public hearing Tuesday and thanked the Town Council for adding the education board's 2% fund reserve request to the agenda.

The 2% fund is a reserve fund that a school district can carry over from year to year to pay for capital and nonrecurring expenditures. It acts as a savings account that can fund budget shortfalls or unexpected expenses the school district may face.

The Board of Education requested that it be allowed to transfer $514,633 in unspent funds from last year’s budget into the fund, which was approved 5-1 with Billy Caron voting against.

“The 2% has always been a stickler with me,” Caron said, contacted by phone on Wednesday. “To me it’s an extra slush fund where I would rather them come to the council and point out what they are using it for.”

Caron was also the lone dissenter on the approved Capital Improvement Plan line-item increase of $152,000 for carpet at Tyl Middle School. He expressed that he felt there were better ways the money could be spent and asked, “why don’t we use that money toward (School Resource Officers)?”

There were some substantial amendments approved by the Town Council, as well as a number of much smaller changes. Special education was increased by $150,000, and adult education was increased by $1,878, both by unanimous vote; however, both line items are offset by state funds for a net-zero impact to the budget.

Additionally, the council was able to decrease the worker’s compensation line item by $600,000 due to American Rescue Plan Funds available to cover that expense.

Some smaller adjustments to the budget included cuts to conservation training and conferences of $125, Economic Development Commission printing and reference material budgets of $200 and $100, respectively, as well as advertising and printing cuts for the Park and Recreation Department totaling $600.

McNally thanked the mayor, finance director and finance committee for their work in what he referred to as “a marathon of meetings,” saying that though “some of the items were only 1 or 200 bucks, but it does add up.”

He continued, “It’s a realistic balanced budget I think," and “not everybody got everything they wanted. We were able to get the board of ed almost $1.4 million over this current year. It wasn’t quite what they wanted, but it was the best we could do.”