On October 13, 2021 at 6 PM in the meeting room at the Andover Town Hall, nine residents sat down, all masked, and committed to working together to review, critique, and adjust as needed the School District, Town, Fire Department, and Water Precinct budgets. 

Little did the Budget Committee realize that five months, 12 meetings, 20+ hours, and over 700 lines of money requests on Excel spreadsheets would get us to February 9, 2022.  This was a committed and hard-working group, with different opinions and reasons about what our taxes should be “buying” and what we should reduce or eliminate from these budgets.

Of the $6,178,647 that the Andover School Board requested, the Budget Committee reduced the amount by $54,000.  We recommended keeping the present staffing level.  The Budget Committee also felt that a 12.5% increase in health insurance costs was in all likelihood a large overreach.  We  recommended reducing the rate to 10%.  

We also recommended reducing a special education line item (other professional services) by $5,000 because that line item has not been more than $700 the past several years.  The Budget Committee also recommended removing the money for a half-time custodian because the school is functioning without that position. 

Of the Select Board’s proposed budget of $2,048,924 the Budget Committee recommended reducing the request by $5,900.  Some mileage and seminars were reduced because of COVID-19 restricting in-person training. A Highway Department supervisor with grader operator skills would reduce personnel cost. We also had new requests from social service and community organizations; we reduced their requests until we can assess what more they offer to the community.

The Fire Department budget required review and some clarification, but otherwise it was tight, appropriate spending.  We did recommend some changes to the Water Precinct budget to increase future funds for several projects that will come up in the near future.

The process of assessing and changing budgets for the town of Andover has been a demanding job for all of us.  I personally have worked hard, but truly enjoyed working with this very dedicated volunteer group of local residents.  I thank you, and the people of Andover should also thank you.