Bennington’s proposed 2020 budget is $1,818,273, a 4 percent or $69,251 increase over the 2019-2020 $1,749,022 budget.
Most of the increases are contractual, Town Administrator Kristie LaPlante said.
“The Select Board worked hard to minimize increases,” she said, adding that many of the budget items that increased were out of their control.
Significant changes include budgeting for the fact that 2020 has 53 pay periods, rather than the usual 52. LaPlante said the Select Board opted to avoid inequality between hourly and salaried town employees by opting to pay all employees for 53 periods.
The town’s ambulance services, contracted through the town of Antrim, increased in cost 25 percent this year, up to $20,000 from $16,000.
“Obviously, $4,000 to some communities is a little bit,” LaPlante said, but it creates a significant increase in a budget the size of Bennington’s.
She said staffing changes within Antrim Ambulance appear to be driving the increases, and understands that costs could continue to increase up to $25,000 in subsequent years. LaPlante said the town is very satisfied with the quality of service they receive from Antrim Ambulance.
“We know the value and the service we get,” she said. “We also know that we could not get a better deal elsewhere.”
The hourly rates increased for water and sewer services as well, another service that Bennington contracts with Antrim, which holds the licensure for the joint agreement between the two towns. The billing structure changed in 2019, LaPlante said, and at that point it was discovered that Bennington had been under-billed for the past several years. The rates increased this year from $50 to $79, LaPlante said, after Bennington was able to negotiate the rate down from an initially requested $85 per hour.
The next opportunity for public input on the budget will be at the town deliberative session on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Pierce School library, with a snow date of Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.