The Board of Selectmen at its February 2 meeting unanimously approved a 2026-27 proposed municipal budget of $51,627,240, a 3.75% increase over the 2025-26 budget of $49,866,665, but not without some disagreement over the details.

First Selectman Bruce Walczak said that the budget had some changes that were favorable, such as the elimination of curbside recycling for $670,000, the restoration of tax collection to the historic norm of 99.3% which added $240,000 to the budget, and an intergovernmental increase for roads of $157,000. It also faced headwinds in the form of a three percent increase for wages and benefits of $690,000, increases for police and fire retirements of $355,000, inflation of 2.7% on operational expenses, contingency needed for unplanned expenses of $95,000, staffing needs to improve town services, aging rolling stock costing $655,000, and security and accessibility challenges.

The budget adds four full time additions, a facilities maintenance person, a building inspector, a dispatcher, and a director of operations.

The director of operations drew some disagreement, with Selectman Jeff Capeci saying he did not “see evidence that the first selectman is unable to fulfill all the responsibilities” of the office.

“This may be a solution in search of a problem,” said Capeci.

The director of operations is intended to fulfill a similar function to a town administrator position recommended by an ad hoc committee under former First Selectman Dan Rosenthal in 2023. That committee recommended the position, and came in to speak again to a director of operations position during this year’s budget talks. The director of operations would assist the first selectman in day-to-day administrative functions such as overseeing the departments, allowing the first selectman to have more time for “forward thinking” strategy.

The committee recommended a town administrator, but Capeci, who replaced Rosenthal as selectman, did not add the position to either budget he oversaw.

Walczak said that he had heard from two first selectmen (Rosenthal and Pat Llodra) who recommended the position and said lacking that help impacted their duties.

“They made an effective case and I feel it’s time the town realized that position,” said Walczak.

Selectman Paul Lundquist agreed, saying that while Capeci made good points on his rationale for not wanting the position, he did not agree and thought Llodra and Rosenthal made their case “clearly.”

“My opinion is the position has evolved to where it does need that support,” said Lundquist.

Lundquist later in the meeting asked if $150,000 could be removed from capital non-recurring expenses concerning additional parking at the Fairfield Hills Campus. Lundquist said he saw the eventual need for parking but did not see the reasoning for why the expenditure needed to be made this year. The change was tabled while additional information was gathered, as the capital non-recurring fund is not directly part of the expenditures budget.

The facilities maintainer would be primarily responsible for servicing HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems, as well as general repairs, and maintaining safety compliance. It would reduce the need to contact vendors for emergency repairs and lower overall maintenance costs.

An emergency dispatcher was described as “a necessary and urgent investment to address unsustainable staffing strain, mandatory overtime, and extended 16-hour shifts. A floating dispatcher would stabilize coverage, reduce burnout, and maintain service quality.”

The building inspector would assist with “significant new development in town” and be offset in costs by inspection fees.

A number of adjustments were made to the budget, including reducing the police pension by $135,047 by spreading out repaying a deficit in the fund over ten years instead of all this year, and adding $80,000 for new police vehicles and $52,500 for a part time fire administrator.

If the town and school budgets are given final approvals at their current levels, the town would be looking at a 4.38% tax increase to 29.74 mills.

The budget will move to the Board of Finance for its review.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.