NEWPORT — The Selectboard is seeking public support for an $11.1 million budget this year, after voters rejected the board’s proposal last year.

The town’s deliberative session, where residents will discuss and possibly amend the budget and other articles on the 2025 Town Meeting warrant, is scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m in the new community center on Meadow Road. All-day ballot voting will take place on Tuesday, May 13.

The budget plan represents an increase of 3%, or $317,000, from the $10.8 million default budget implemented for the current fiscal year.

In crafting this year’s budget proposal, the board set a priority of creating a spending plan that was as close to the $10.6 million default budget as it could get, Selectboard Chairman Jim Burroughs said in a phone interview.

A default budget for the second straight year would be “catastrophic” for the town and would result in cuts in personnel and services, Burroughs said.

“We worked so hard to approve a budget we believe will pass,” Burroughs said. “We went through the budget line by line and spoke to the department heads to be sure we have in the budget they need to maintain services.”

The proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, is $400,000 less than last year’s proposed budget of $11.5 million. 

According to the warrant, the proposed budget would reduce the municipal tax rate by 25 cents to $7.23 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The default budget carries an estimated tax rate of $6.91.  

Other appropriations with a tax rate impact on the 30-article warrant include three-year collective bargaining agreements with the police union and public works union. The first-year cost for police is $96,000 with a tax impact of 13 cents. For public works, the first year is $73,400, with an added 7 cents on the tax rate. Some of the money for the public works contract would come from water and sewer funds.

To keep the budget at a figure they hope will be supported by residents, Selectboard members placed several appropriations in separate warrant articles, Burroughs said. They are things that town officials would like to have, but will leave up to voters.

“It is like an a la carte warrant where taxpayers can decide what they want to support,” Burroughs said.

These include three articles for paving $200,000; sidewalk, curbing and drainage on Maple Street, $250,000; and the hiring of two-full time firefighters/EMTs, $200,000.

The Selectboard is recommending the purchase of a $375,000 street sweeper under a five-year lease purchase agreement and a seven-year lease purchase agreement of $188,595 for a sidewalk snowplowing machine. The combined tax rate impact is 19 cents in the first year.

There are several articles raising between $5,000 and $75,000 to be placed in capital reserve funds, including building maintenance, ambulance and recreation. The tax impact for each article ranges from 1 cent to 10 cents.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.