The Select Board has submitted a warrant article proposing that the town do away with the budget committee and give the board complete control of the budget. As a an elected member of the budget committee, I think that voting on this proposal gives voters an important choice about the budgetary process and how much input the public will have in that process.
Currently, the Select Board prepares a budget with the Town administrator and the department heads. The Budget Committee conducts a thorough review of the budget and is responsible for developing the final budget that goes before voters at the SB2 meeting. At that time voters have the option to amend the budget before it goes to a vote.
The Budget Committee, made up of seven elected members plus two liaisons, holds public meetings on the budget and invites public discussion. The committee also presented two budget forums this year designed to inform the townspeople about the town's financial situation and to get feedback from the public. Given nine voting members on the board representing a variety of opinions and backgrounds, each item is thoroughly vetted and discussed before decisions get presented for a public vote.
The Select Board may argue that they should be in charge of the budget since they are responsible for conducting the day-to-day operations of the town and they are more familiar with the needs of the departments than members of the budget committee. However, the Select Board, the Town Administrator, and the Department Heads do NOT prepare the budget in public. While some discussions may take place at Select Board Work Sessions, they are not detailed discussions and no public input is allowed.
In contrast, the Budget Committee goes over the budget with each Department Head, in public. The Department Head explains the reasoning for budget requests and answers questions from the committee on individual line items. Members of the public can also ask questions of both the Department Head and the Budget Committee. In addition, the committee discusses and votes on each change proposed to the budget in public so that the public can understand the committee's reasoning.
The Select Board focuses on the operating budget, but the Budget Committee looks at the budget as a whole. It considers how to balance long-term and short-term needs, and it considers how much taxpayers can afford to pay for the services provided by the town.
The Budget Committee conducts a public hearing before it finalizes its budget for the SB2 meeting, and it prepares the default budget (a budget based on last year's budget plus committed financial obligations that becomes the operating budget if the proposed budget does not pass). Public input is considered at a meeting after the hearing and changes are often made before the budget is finalized.
Having a Budget Committee ensures that developing the budget is an open, transparent, and democratic process as opposed to the process used by the Select Board which is closed and does not allow for public input except at the end of the process.
Financial decisions must ultimately be left to the voting public. Having a Budget Committee is the the best way to ensure that the complex process of developing the budget is open, transparent, and responsive to public input.
