By Brett Yates
On Dec. 12, the Chittenden Select Board finalized its municipal budget proposals for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), which will begin on July 1 next year. Voters will approve or reject the board’s general fund expenditure budget and highway budget on Town Meeting Day, March 1.
Under the board’s recommendation, the general fund expenditure budget would grow by 3.04%, from $496,274 to $511,374. A special budget meeting last month revealed that the town expects to spend more on transfer station operations — $79,804, instead of Fiscal Year 2022’s $64,406 — and on property maintenance, where a net increase of $7,000 would pay for a professional inventory of potential defects at five aging municipal buildings, as well as a renovated front entrance landing at the Grange Hall.
The highway budget would rise 2.31%, from $756,530 to $774,027. The figure includes $66,839 for the town’s share of a new culvert on Wildcat Road, to which the state contributed $175,000 through a grant.
To cover the general fund expenditure budget and the highway budget, the town will ask residents for permission to raise $287,749 and $576,321, respectively, through property taxes during Fiscal Year 2023. On March 2, 2021, Chittenden voters agreed to pay $286,294 toward the general fund and $560,936 for highways in Fiscal Year 2022 for a total of $847,230 in property taxes.
The proposed haul of $864,070 in Fiscal Year 2023 represents a 1.99% increase.
