Under the Wire: Selectmen OK $38.8M Budget with Firefighters and DPW Role, Meeting BOF Deadline and 3.6% Guidance

Facing a Mar. 5 deadline for delivery, the Board of Selectmen rallied on Wednesday night, Mar. 4, to unanimously approve a proposed operating budget for the Board of Finance to review that exactly meets the 3.6% increase guidance recommended by the BOF.

The approved $38.8-million budget includes $130,000 earmarked toward two new firefighters, $85,000 to hire a new town administrator for the second half of the year, and $80,000 to begin funding a DPW facilities/capital planning management position.

A total BOS operating budget of $38,821,769 for Fiscal Year 2027 was approved, but only after a change in how certain vehicle purchases are funded added $330,000 to the FY26 baseline used to calculate the 3.6% increase, thus giving the selectmen a little more wiggle room with their final number.

Selectman Matt Raimondi, who previously served as the chair of the BOF, presented a last-minute plan to the BOS that used $330,000 in existing Charter Reserve funds to cover the cost of some vehicles.

“There’s a strong view that we should not be bonding vehicles,” Raimondi said, with some BOF members informing him that they would support using money from the Charter Reserve fund to cover that cost.

“I’ve spoken to members of the Board of Finance,” he said. “I believe they’ll be amenable to that.”

By accepting the change, the current Fiscal year 2026 BOS budget went from $37,130,471 to $37,460,471, which increased the base used to calculate the 3.6% growth guideline. 

The BOS arrived at an operating capital amount of $854,514 in the total budget — an area Raimondi didn’t want to see reduced as far as it had been in an earlier proposal from First Selectman Toni Boucher and Chief Financial Officer Dawn Savo.

“I just don’t think we should raid operating capital,” he said. “I think these are important investments for the town.”

The budget will now go to the BOF for its deliberations.

“We are hoping that since we are coming in within the guidelines that were created, there will not be too many changes,” Boucher said.

The BOS is scheduled to discuss bonding options at its Mar. 16 meeting.

Much of Wednesday’s meeting was spent with Raimondi and Savo sorting through various iterations of the proposed numbers, with both trying to clarify figures up to the last minute. While Raimondi was able to bring several hundred thousand dollars in reductions to the operating side on Monday with a wide range of suggested cuts, Savo also found some available funds in places, including a discovery of $76,000 budgeted for voting machines that would not be needed.

In the end, the BOS had — in essence — $295,000 in extra funds to put toward new personnel, including two firefighters (whose hiring may be staggered depending on timing), a town administrator and a DPW facilities and capital planning manager that Boucher fought adamantly to include as a full-time role to cost at least $160,000, but will now be funded for half a year in this budget.

Plug for Town Administrator 

Though Boucher herself said on Monday that the lack of a town administrator at Town Hall “doubled” her workload — and that she was making a sacrifice by not having one in favor of instead funding a new DPW manager — Second Selectman Ross Tartell shared an opinion that the town administrator role was an important one to fill.

“I hate to challenge you on that, but … I want to speak to the town administrator,” Tartell said. “You and I finish our terms at the same time and so I’m concerned about what will come after us, because you know how tough your transition was and I’m concerned that the next person who follows you should not have to go through what you went through.”

“We can push out when they come in, but we need to not lose sight of them for the future,” he said.

Boucher said that she agreed, but thought it would be a position to make a priority “in the next budget cycle.”

Tartell responded, “I’d like that person to start earlier. I’ve talked about getting someone extra for you … I think the stressors of not having that extra support, of not having that continuity, are very difficult and we need to think about that and make that earlier rather than later.”

With former Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker‘s contract having ended in the fall, the BOS formed a search committee to find his replacement. While there were two candidates that came into final consideration, according to comments made at the last BOS meeting, the process was suddenly halted without further explanation except that, according to Boucher, the committee had decided to put the matter on hold.

Debate on Facilities Manager

While Raimondi spoke in support of funding the town administrator position, at least for half a year, he suggested that the town invest in an outside consultant to help DPW Director Frank Smeriglio with management of projects rather than committing to a new full-time position being budgeted at $160,000. Raimondi said the town needed to have bigger discussions about how it wants to handle management of projects and, as has happened on the Board of Education side, may want to assess and evaluate the procedure it’s currently using to streamline it.

Tartell agreed.

“I was thinking along those same lines … I think if we find a contractor to carry (Smeriglio) through, that will enable us to bring more structural ways into the town,” Tartell said.

“If we had unlimited money, then there’s no problem, but we have limited funds and we have three very pressing issues …,” he said.

Boucher, however, pushed back on the idea of hiring a contractor or consultant, arguing that the work required a full-time staff position embedded within the town’s operations and would better help Smeriglio. She stated the position was something that he had been talking about since last June, though Boucher herself never publicly brought the matter up until just last month.

“Frank needs a full-time person to do capital planning,” Boucher said, “and to do the facilities, which is full time, so the number needs to be greater than that, and the real estate that we have, so again, that’s not a part-time position.”

“I think by making it temporary, making it a contract basis, that’s not a person that’s embedded with the staff,” Boucher said.

“I’m concerned that we would not be taking this need as seriously as we should,” she said, stating it was equally as important as bringing additional firefighters to the town.

Selectman Rich McCarty, meanwhile, countered that while the work was probably needed, it was more practical at this point to go with outside help.

“I think we need to be reasonable and responsible about responding to these needs, and I think the contractor may be the best first start to doing that,” McCarty said.

Tartell, likewise, said an outside consultant might be the best option.

“We’ve got three jobs and we don’t have enough money,” Tartell said, stressing the importance of getting a new town administrator.

Selectman David Tatkow offered some support for an on-staff person, expressing trepidation about Smeriglio’s needs.

“I am a little concerned about DPW and whether that’s adequate,” he said of Smeriglio engaging a consultant.

The BOS asked Smeriglio to share his thoughts on why he wanted this position as one that would be on staff.

“I need a person to do what I do,” Smeriglio said. “Preparing all the documents that come before the Board of Selectmen can take two full days,” he said. “I don’t need a consultant… I don’t want a person who’s then going to ask me for every little decision,” he said.

Boucher described the half-year funding as a compromise. 

Ultimately, the members agreed to that compromise of a half-year salaried position to support the DPW director, allowing the town to evaluate the role before deciding whether to make it a full-time position in a future budget cycle.