On Feb 13th, night, I presented my proposed budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 to our Town Council. In preparing my proposal, I remained committed to controlling taxes while improving roads and infrastructure, delivering cost-effective services to our community, providing excellence in education, and maintaining the strong financial health of the Town.

As was the case last year, the Town’s costs in providing essential services continues to rise. The economic factors that are impacting our country are likewise felt here in Monroe. While the Town continues to take prudent measures to minimize the budgetary impact, contractual wage increases, supply chain challenges and labor shortages continue to result in price increases from many of the Town’s vendors. In addition, programs such as state-mandated single stream recycling, once a revenue generator, now come at a considerable cost to municipalities, while the price of gasoline, diesel, heating oil, propane, natural gas, electricity, and water, have all risen considerably. Despite these inflationary pressures, I have worked with our department heads to limit our overall increase in municipal expenditures to 1.85%.

I proudly support Monroe’s award-winning, robust educational system that is highly valued by our community. Without question, Monroe Public Schools is the greatest driver of the Town’s overall budget, representing 68% of total expenditures. Our Board of Education had requested a 5.77% increase, which creates significant challenges in continuing to deliver a budget that does not result in a substantial increase in property taxes.

I remain committed to minimize the tax burden through deliberative practices, including conservative spending, use of alternate funding sources, and fostering growth in our grand list. I have worked with department heads to identify cost containment strategies wherever possible and to propose a fiscally responsible budget, adjusted to incorporate due diligence and use of grants. My budget proposal utilizes projected availability of funds remaining in grants, as identified by the Board of Education, to be applied to reduce their FY24 allocation.

Fiscal Year

Our successful approach to the Town’s financial management has allowed our unassigned fund balance to grow to a projected $20 million, the largest amount on record. This balance exceeds current Board of Finance policy, and as such, I am recommending that a portion be returned to taxpayers to soften the impact of the forecasted increases in costs of the upcoming fiscal year. A disciplined utilization of the excess in our fund balance, combined with a renewed focus to contain both municipal and education costs, will allow us to avoid a fiscal cliff in future years without requiring a draconian tax levy.

Monroe enjoys significant and sustained growth in our grand list across residential, commercial, and motor vehicle property, which substantially reduces the impact to our tax rate. Without this growth in the grand list, a conservative and disciplined approach to spending, and use of alternative funding, taxes would have grown by almost 10%, a rate I believe most would agree is unacceptable. 

My budget incorporates a projected tax rate increase of 2.58% This is an average of less than 1% per year over the past six years. Of the total increase in operating expenditures, 87% is attributed to education and 13% to municipal costs.  

I greatly appreciate the dedication of our staff, educators, and volunteers – including those serving on boards and commissions. As this process continues forward to our annual referendum on May 2, 2023, my team and I will continue to devote as many hours as are necessary to further refine the budget as the Town Council and Board of Finance conduct their review. As always, I will continue to communicate any new information as it becomes available so that further adjustments can be considered. 

I look forward to presenting a final budget that will be supported by the voters of Monroe.