At Town Meeting in March, citizens vote on an operating budget and several capital budgets. These are very different types of budgets.
The operating budget can be likened to your household budget. It covers the day-to-day expenses anticipated in running the Town for one year. Almost half of it covers wages and related payroll costs for the staff who are providing services to Andover citizens. The rest goes toward the supplies and materials needed to do that work, utilities, fuel, insurance, trash hauling and tipping fees, and much more.
Capital budgets can be likened to money you may be setting aside for your next vehicle, a new roof, or college for the kids: things you believe you will want or need down the line. A big difference between a town’s capital budgets and your personal savings is that you can decide to dip into the kids’ college fund to take that vacation you always wanted. A town can’t do that.
Once the citizens vote to set aside capital funds for a particular purpose, placing it into a reserve fund, that’s the only way the funds can be used. It takes additional Town Meeting action to change that.
Right now, on another rainy August day, our operating budget is 51 percent expended and we are 62 percent of the way through the fiscal year. The three largest departments (Highway, Police, Transfer Station) are all tracking well within their allotted budgets. Highway, currently at 43 percent, will be spending more as winter approaches.
Budgets that are running higher than expected are the relatively small Legal and Advertising budgets. And the General Government Buildings budget is at 74 percent, due to some recent security upgrades.
Budget planning for 2024 is already on the radar. The Budget Committee, chaired by Donna Crisp Duclos, will start meeting again soon. They will review the 2023 operating expenditures to date, as well as incoming revenues received. They will work with information from department heads and the Select board. The public is always welcome to observe their elected Budget Committee in action.
This summer, the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) committee met for the first time since 2016. The new committee consists of Selectman Jim Delaney, Jim Hersey, Fred Lance, Doug Phelps, and Greg Stetson.
The committee will work with department heads and the Select Board to prepare a multi-year CIP, discussing proposed capital projects and expenditures. This is when the longer term “wants and needs” are considered in great detail.
The preparation and adoption of a CIP is an important part of the Town’s long-term financial planning and budgeting process. The final report is a versatile planning tool that will help the Town make better choices and plan for future needs in a way the community can afford. All meetings are open to the public.