The second vote on the town budget will be Monday, July 29 from 8:00 am - 8:00 pm.
Since the first budget presented on June 3rd was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters, the Town Council has proposed a new budget.
The new budget has five major changes.
The $3,095,000 "Construction" line item that the CCA Councilors proposed and supported has been removed.
The tax levy will be reduced by $1,000,000. This will reduce the tax rate from $9.64/$1000 to $9.23/$1000. A savings of $.41 / $1000 of assessed valuation. A house assessed at $350,000 will have a tax reduction of $143.50 for the year.
In the defeated budget, $1,250,000 was proposed to be taken from the Unassigned Surplus and redirected to the $3,095,000 "Construction" line item. Since there is no longer a "Construction" line, the $1,250,000 will remain in the Unassigned Surplus. As per the audit dated June 30, 2018 the town had $6,935,171 in Unassigned Surplus (this includes the $1,250,000).
The remaining $845,000 (from the proposed $3,095,000) will go to the General Fund Budgeted Surplus. The money will stay in the surplus until the people of Charlestown decide what they want to do with it.
The Town Council created a line item for a Town-wide Assessment/Survey for $74,552. The purpose of this is to determine the needs of the community and the best use for the Town's surplus.
Approval of this budget will reduce the tax rate, plus give the residents time to decide what we would like to do with the remaining surplus.
