Budget Showdown 2012

(Correction: The budget review starts March 1.)

The FY '12 budget party kicks off March 1. Everyone's invited.

That's when Mayor April Capone is expected to turn over her next municipal spending proposal to the Board of Finance. The board will hold four public workshops, where department heads come to defend their requests. The board then kicks back the budget to Capone with its recommendations.

Final destination is the Town Council, where department chiefs again argue their line items during three to four public meetings beginning in early April. When the budget is put to bed, the mill rate is set.

"It's going to be rough like it was last year," said Finance Director Tom Thompson. "We're going to have to make some difficult choices. We don't want to burden the taxpayers."

Thompson said the key focus will be on keeping taxes stable. The in-progress property revaluation will not affect the new budget but will for FY '13. What does affect every budget -- and cannot be negotiated -- are expenses like employee benefits outlined in union contracts that rise every year, namely medical, pension and Worker's Comp.

The total cost of employee benefits went up $2,662,500 from FY '10 to FY '11 -- $4,256,000 to $6,918,500.

"I'm a resident and I'm a taxpayer and as sensitive to the taxes as anyone is," said Thompson. "I have skin in the game."

Here's the upcoming Board of Finance workshop schedule (all meetings  start at 7 p.m. in the Giaimo Conference Room, lower level of Town Hall):

March 1: Senior Center, Registrar of Voters, Social Services, Planning & Zoning, Zoning Board of Appeals, Civil Service & Personnel, Town Council, Health, Board of Finance, Counseling & Community, Building Official, Housing/Urban Development

March 2: Engineering, Public Service, Building Maintenance, Town Clerk, Police, Fire, Library, Animal Shelter, Insurance, Legal Services

March 8: Assessor, Finance, Mayor, Community Services, Employee Benefits, General Services, Tax Collector, Recreation, Purchasing, Revenue, Debt Service

March 9: Board of Education (while the town cannot touch those line items, they will be reviewed and the bottom line of the school budget can be so altered).

March 16: Recommendations are made to the mayor, who chairs the Board of Finance.