Weston voters approve $78.9 million budget

WESTON — Town residents supported the 202223 budget proposal this weekend in a referendum, approving a combined gross spending plan of nearly $78.9 million.

Saturday’s budget vote was broken down into three lines: the town, schools and capital.

The town budget received 359 yes votes, passing with 73.89 percent. The Board of Education operating budget received 353 yes votes, passing with 72.63 percent of the vote. The capital budget received 370 yest votes, passing with 76.13 percent, according to town figures.

The town’s total net budget forecasts just over $74.6 million for the upcoming fiscal year, a 2.74 percent increase over the current year’s budget figure of $69.1 million after accounting for various town revenue.

This translates to a mill rate increase of 0.12 percent. The new rate will be 32.96 mills, up from 32.92 mills.

“The three main boards in town worked diligently together to produce a nearly flat increase despite a consumer price index topping 8.5 percent this past March,” First Selectwoman Samantha Nestor said prior to the town meeting on the budget. “The result is a proposed budget that preserves valuable municipal services at a mill rate increase of almost zero percent.”

The biggest chunk of the overall budget is allocated for school spending with the Board of Education budget coming in just under $56.4 million. This is $1.3 million, or 2.4 percent, more than the current school year’s budget, but about $500,000 less than what the schools asked for.

Nestor has said the school board was able to bring down costs in several areas, including health insurance, materials and software licenses.

The budget for the town departments in upcoming fiscal year is for just under $14.7 million, an increase of about $600,000, or 4.32 percent over the current budget.

The total debt service in next year’s budget is $4.4 million, down from the $5.5 million this year.

The capital budget for the schools and town is a little more than $2.4 million, which is more than double last year’s figure of just over $1 million.