Clinton Town Council Budget Review (Second Night) - March 5, 2026
Clinton Town Council Budget Review (Second Night) - March 5, 2026
The Town Council held its second budget workshop for fiscal year 2026-2027, reviewing general town government departments. The Town Manager and Finance Director presented proposed expenditures, highlighting increases in legal services, a new HR consulting firm, pension costs, health insurance, and debt service. Council members questioned several line items and discussed the impact of the recent property revaluation. At the conclusion, Councilor Hank proposed a $500,000 reduction to the budget—$200,000 from the town side and $300,000 from the school side—to alleviate the tax burden on residents. The Council generally supported the proposal and tasked the Town Manager with identifying specific cuts.
Discussion Items
- Town Manager Department: Legal services increased from $125,000 to $150,000 due to rising caseloads in land use, tax, and labor matters, plus a high volume of FOI requests. A new HR consulting firm (team of 14, annual cost $38,000) was proposed to handle HR functions (FMLA, onboarding, background checks, handbook updates) without adding a town position. The funds come from eliminating a part-time engineer position ($75,000 salary). Council members asked about tracking usage and value; the Town Manager confirmed monthly invoicing and a priority list after an initial audit. Councilor Hank offered to forgo his $3,000 chair stipend to fund an employee recognition program; after discussion, the Council suggested reducing it to $1,500 for a jacket.
- Finance Department: Bank fees were eliminated because the compensating balance always covers them. Audit costs came in lower than estimated, producing savings.
- Technology: A $43,000 increase for core network switches (municipal and Board of Ed connectivity) was justified by Ivan, the IT director, as needed to replace end-of-life equipment.
- Town Clerk: Salary increased by $6,000 for a new hire (union position, vacancy saved $14,000 in salary). Election ballot printing costs rose.
- Probate: Decreased significantly after last year's one-time renovation costs were paid.
- Insurance: Flat overall due to a broker change. Deductibles were increased, with a reserve fund for potential claims. The old broker charged a $22,000 consulting fee; the new broker does not.
- Commissions & Committees: Beautification Committee and Human Rights Commission requested additional funds due to rising costs.
- General Government: Increased for foreclosures, displacements, fireworks ($10,000), 250th Committee ($3,000), Placemakers public safety costs, and other events. Council noted the town is not giving money to private organizations but will pay police/fire directly for event security.
- Employee Benefits: Police pension costs rose $392,000 more than anticipated due to actuarial adjustments after moving active officers to the state MERS plan. The police pension fund is now 61% funded. Health insurance assumed 12% increase; actual state rates not yet known. Contingency reduced to $170,000 because union contracts are settled.
- Hydrants: Water company added an infrastructure charge, increasing the line by $51,000; Finance Director Bob’s estimate was nearly exact.
- Human Services: Clinician position salary increased to be competitive; the position has been vacant for five years. Two vacancies (clinician and part-time clerk) exist, so actual spending is below budget.
- Economic Development: Proposed increasing the EDC coordinator from 19 to 29 hours to attract better candidates, offset by reductions in professional services and marketing.
- Planning & Zoning: Increased professional services by $5,000 for engineering support for grants and regulation amendments. Additional $4,000 to fix 1,000 parcel data inconsistencies between permitting and GIS systems, and $2,200 for an ArcGIS Pro license.
- Debt Service: Increase of $146,000 for the new fire apparatus bond. Existing debt principal is being paid down; total debt as of July 1, 2026 is $41.6 million.
- Revenues: Finance Director Bob presented a multi-year revenue analysis showing that the town historically under-budgeted revenues, leading to undesignated fund balance growth. For 2026-2027, revenues are estimated more accurately. Council noted interest income is projected to drop from $1.4 million to $1.2 million.
Key Outcomes
- Councilor Hank proposed a $500,000 budget reduction ($200,000 from town, $300,000 from schools) to mitigate the tax impact of the revaluation. The Town Manager was directed to find $200,000 in cuts on the town side, including the elimination of the new SRO position. The Board of Education will be asked to identify $300,000 in efficiencies. The adjustment would lower the projected mill rate from 22.77 to 22.55.
- The Council supported the proposal (with two absent members to be consulted). A final budget meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 12, 2026 at 7:00 PM, where the Council will formally consider adjustments and vote.
Meeting Transcript
All right, so good evening, everyone. Um welcome to our second night of the budget review. Um Monday night we had the primary the um public safety departments today. We have more of the town government departments here in this building and um other general town government um departments and line items. So what I was thinking is we'll look at we'll go by each department, we'll look at the summary page. If there's any specific questions, um these departments historically are smaller. Um so if there's a significant increase, I'll bring attention to the items, and if anyone has any de pet questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If I start going too fast, please don't hesitate to tell me to slow down. So the first department that we're gonna talk about is the town manager department. Um you do see that there is a request for an increase in legal services from 125 to 150. Um while there is a lot of legal matters that do expose the town to large financial financial risks. Um there has been an increase in caseloads over the past two years, which I'm hoping will start to decrease, but we've had a lot or many um land use and tax cases that have been ongoing for some time. And this current fiscal year we had three union contracts that were settled. We do have labor matters that do arise that take time and um consultation from our labor attorneys. And we have quite frankly, in one of the most most freedom of information requests that I've ever seen. Um we average about one a week. And so what we can't pull together, we pull together on our own, but often um depending on the nature of that request, we do send it to our legal team to review it to make sure that everything that needs to be redacted is redacted, and that we don't provide anyone's information that should not be provided. Um yes, so that's something there I want to bring your attention to. Um I have mentioned at the previous um meetings about an HR consultant. I know that um it has been identified that HR needs we need to expand it. Right now, it's not really happening, not much of it's happening. Um I'm trying my best to do as much as I can, but there is just a tremendous amount that that needs to be done. And I was aware early on that there is concern about having additional positions in this budget since we are in a very tight fiscal year. Um so I did speak to other municipalities to see how they handle HR services. I was fortunate enough to um I have a good relationship with Carl Fortuna um in Old Seabrook, and they use a consulting firm in Milford that has been tremendous to work with. So I did reach out to them. I shared with the council that they're gonna be performing an HR audit um on our about three months it'll take to go through everything. We are starting with them having meetings with department heads. Um but they did give us a quote based on what we think our needs are. So it's about 38,000. It's a team of 14 people, so we get 14 people who would be working for us. Um all of them have um different strengths, so some of them are in FMLA, some of them are in labor negotiations, some of them are in hiring and onboarding. So it doesn't cost the town any additional funds for retirement or pension or any of that. So this is a great start for us. I'm hoping that this will meet our needs, and this is where we can stay. Of course. Is that an annual contract or that it's um it's annual, so we would review it at the end. And that's their quote. So that's based on their initial review of everything of what they they think is. I just didn't know. So if they um it's not hourly, it's you know, like the H the Um handbook review and updating the handbook is part of it. It's it's like a r I don't want to say it's like a retainer, it's just a lump sum, and then they'll parcel it out based on what we need. So we may not use it all, we may use it all, but I think initially we have to update our handbook. We have a lot of trainings that have to get done. Um all of our employee files need to be reviewed and put into an electric database, which right now they're in literally boxes. Um all of those are one-time things that we need to do. So once those are done, I anticipate the needs to be more of a more diminished and more of a case-by-case basis. If I have an employee that needs to go on FMLA, I call them. They work that with that employee to take them through the process, make sure they have proper uh paperwork and communication with their doctors and things like that. Umboarding, hiring, they do all the background checks.
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