Misinformed
Right before the April budget referendum, signs popped up around town warning of a 4.5% tax increase. The tactic allowed no time for a response. For more information, I attended the April 23 Board of Finance (BOF) meeting and spoke with the chair. As it turns out, a 4.5% tax increase was never in play. The highest was 4.32%, but the Board trimmed the preliminary budget by $300,000 and projected $330,000 more in non-tax revenue to lower the projected tax increase to 3.76%. Whoever publicized a 4.5% increase was, at best, misinformed.
There is, of course, no way to gauge the impact this bogus claim had on the referendum, in which, due to a low turnout, 10.4% of the total electorate managed to defeat the budget by 388 votes. Nonetheless, in response, the BOF has cut the combined Town and education budgets by another $1.15 million, thereby reducing the initial draft by $1.45 million. The new proposal increases the 2023-'24 budget by 2.98% and projects a tax increase of 2.7%, well below the current rate of inflation. A cut of this size was possible due to a $634,000 reduction in medical premiums, of which the town was notified after the April 16 referendum. These savings did not magically materialize. They are the result of sustained efforts by the current administration to control costs and reflect prudent financial management of the town overall.
Hopefully, the turnout in the next referendum on Tuesday, May 21, will be higher, and the results will not be skewed by inaccurate postings tacked up on telephone poles the day before.
Roy Ogren
Guilford