Groton ― The Town Council voted Tuesday to send the proposed 2024-25 budget of $153.5 million, which is 3.1% increase more than the current budget, to the Representative Town Meeting.

The RTM will hold its annual budget meeting on May 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Thrive 55+ Active Living Center. The RTM has until midnight on May 25 to make a decision on the budget.

The council tentatively set the tax rate for next year at 23.08 mills, .95 mills more than the current rate of 22.13. The proposed budget also calls for using $4 million of the town’s fund balance to offset the tax rate. The council officially will set the level of fund balance use and the tax rate after the RTM approves the budget.

During its budget deliberations, the council made $4.6 million in reductions to the town manager’s proposed budget of $158,145,954.

The council removed $50,000 from contingency, $27,500 from legal services, $25,000 from city police, $75,000 from the Groton Long Point highway budget, $25,000 from the city highway budget, $125,623 from Planning and Development Services, $25,000 from Public Works, $100,000 from public safety, $328,765 from contributions to other funds, $69,388 from human services, and $861,000 from capital reserves, among other reductions.

The council reduced the Board of Education’s proposed budget and also shifted expenses for school nurses, previously in the town budget, to the education budget, due to the end of the Visiting Nurse Association of Southeastern Connecticut program.

After the changes, the Board of Education’s budget now stands at $86.4 million, a 6% increase over the current year’s education budget, though it would have been a 4.5% increase without the shift of the nursing expenses to the education budget.

The $87.9 million budget initially approved by the Board of Education had included a reduction of about 125 staff positions, the majority due to the end of COVID-19 relief funds.

The Board of Education met Tuesday to discuss further potential reductions due to the Town Council’s cut.

The RTM Education Committee had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday night to review the education budget and capital improvement projects.

Town Mayor Rachael Franco said Town Manager John Burt also gave up his raise to help the community.

The votes for the budget and setting the tentative tax rate and fund balance use were 7-0, with one abstention from Town Councilor Portia Bordelon. Bordelon said she has concerns that the education budget is not being funded properly.

She said she is also is hearing from residents who say it’s a tough year and ask why the town is not using more of the fund balance to bolster the budget.

Franco said the council did everything it possibly could to give as much to the Board of Education, while also protecting the community from tax increases, after a period of high inflation.

Burt said the use of $4 million in fund balance will leave the town with a fund balance that equals about 22% of the town’s annual operating budget. A bond rating agency said it wants the town to maintain at least a 20% fund balance and does not want to see sudden shifts from year to year. A high bond rating saves the town on interest costs when it borrows money for projects.

k.drelich@theday.com