Waterford RTM moves closer to final budget vote

Waterford — The town’s 22-member Representative Town Meeting, the third town legislative body to review the budget proposal before the start of each fiscal year, continued its four-day spending review Wednesday by approving the budgets for public works, the fire departments, the town library and legal fees, among others.

The departmental budgets and spending on capital projects already have been through two levels of review by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance in the past two months.

The RTM approved the $1.43 million public works budget proposal, which increased by about $75,000 from last year mostly due to increased professional fees and a state-mandated program to monitor stormwater, DPW Director Kristin Zawacki said.

They also approved a $3 million budget for fire services that will go to the town’s five fire departments and the fire marshal’s office.

The board’s members have so far this week made few cuts to the various budgets in a year of extreme uncertainty about what amount of state aid towns can expect from the state budget, which likely still will be in negotiations up until the end of the legislative session on June 7.

But Waterford doesn’t stand to suffer as much as some other Connecticut towns if Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposals pass the legislature, and so the town’s elected officials have kept town department budgets mostly intact.

At 7 p.m. today, the RTM will take on the nearly $47.3 million school budget and take a final vote on the general government and capital budgets.