Killington Drafts $4.1 Million Budget

The Vermont Standard
12/4/14

By Virginia Dean

Standard Correspondent

KILLINGTON—Select board members spent most of Tuesday night’s meeting working to develop the proposed 2015-16 budget focusing capital expenses that represent 33 percent of the town’s annual $4.1 million budget, according to Town Manager Seth Webb.

“The capital plan is where most of the increases lie,” said Webb.

As the result of a town vote in 2014 to adopt a fiscal year, the select board’s new proposal represents 18 months of spending for January 2015-June 2016. To make the transition to the fiscal year from a calendar year, the town needs to adopt an 18-month budget for one year.

The draft 18-month budget proposal calls for $6,162,760 in spending and $6,162,760 in expenses. As drafted, it would result in an estimated municipal tax increase of 1.8 cents. The significant increases in the draft budget are for highway operations (due to the increase in salt price, the town will pay $20,000 or more for salt in the new year), an additional full-time police officer, fire fighting equipment and maintenance, facilities maintenance, liability insurance, and board of health expense.

To manage the largest portion of the expense, the town has developed a five-year capital plan in 2011 that details all its major assets (highways, bridges, culverts, facilities and equipment) and establishes replacement/maintenance schedules and timelines, cost estimates, and factors in inflation, Webb noted.

Additionally, the town’s Sustainability Report Card on Capital Funding helped to guide the select board in choosing appropriations that would establish sustainable funding levels, avoid unnecessary borrowing, and be efficient with taxpayer money.

To help prioritize spending on roads, the board reviewed the 2014 Paved Road Report Card which ranks the roads in one of four conditions: Excellent, Good, Fair, Failed, based on best practices from around the state. Currently 25 percent of the paved roads are in excellent condition, 33 percent in good condition, 27 percent classified as fair, and 14 percent as failed. Next year’s paving proposal calls for an appropriation $243,000 in addition to the $297,000 the town has secured in grants, and efforts will focus on repaving the next section of Killington Road. The first section from Route 4 to West Hill was repaved this summer.

Another item discussed was how to manage costs associated with bridge maintenance. The town estimates it has over $7 million dollars worth of bridges and three bridges, constructed prior to 1939, will require significant work over the next few years. The board decided to make the estimated $181,500 in repairs in 2017 instead of 2015-16 in order to tax pressure off the tax rate in the upcoming year.

Other items that were discussed were increasing the maintenance facilities appropriation from $5,000 annually to $12,500, anticipated roof repairs at the library, and the cost of the town pool replacement in approximately eight years.

The select board plans to continue its work on the budget on Dec. 16 when it will focus on the Clerk/Treasurer, Recreation and Marketing and Special Events budget. The Board plans to have a final budget proposal in mid-January.

The draft of the Capital Improvement Plan was drawn up and presented in part by Road Foreman Chet Hagenbarth and his son, Colin, a 2014 graduate of Washington & Lee University with a major in Mathematics.

The town has implemented a funding level in order to keep the tax rate level over a longer period of time, according to Colin Hagenbarth.

“The idea behind the sustainability program is to have the money for larger paving projects, buildings, trucks, etc. in advance so that the tax rate doesn’t spike and Killington is able to maintain a proper level of upkeep of their current assets,” said Hagenbarth.

The sustainable funding would also help reduce the need for bonding in the future that results in taxpayers saving money on any potential bond interest, Hagenbarth explained.

The current draft of the Town of Killington Capital Improvement Plan shows a tax appropriation of $1.716 million in the 18-month budget from January 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.

Using the 2014 Grand List, Killington estimates a tax rate of .2167 that is a decrease of .0386 when compared to the projected 2014 actuals multiplied by 1.5, according to Hagenbarth.