Gilford Selectboard forwards 2026 spending proposal to budget committee

GILFORD — The town's Selectboard is recommending a budget total of $23.6 million, to be reviewed on Thursday by the town’s Budget Committee. Their oversight starts the process leading up to Town Meeting in March.

The proposal is higher than last year’s operating budget total of $20.9 million, voted on at the 2025 Town Meeting. Town Administrator Scott Dunn said the proposal is actually a significant decrease, because the 2025 budget included $11.2 million for the new public works building. According to information provided by Dunn, the gross budget amount for the proposed 2026 budget is a 30.23% decrease.

“All of that was completely offset by a bond, so it didn’t have an impact on the ’25 budget. But in 2026, we begin making our bond payments, so it is a significant decrease in the bottom line,” Dunn said.

The budgeting process begins in mid-October, with department managers submitting their proposals to Dunn, before setting to work on “whittling down” each bottom line. In some cases, Dunn may make additions, but for the most part, the process surrounds keeping the budget as low as possible.

The recommended budget was submitted to the selectboard, whose members held a budget workshop on Oct. 21, where the department heads went over requests compared to Dunn’s recommendations. On Oct. 22, selectboard members Kevin Hayes, Dale Channing Eddy and Gus Benavides voted 3-0 to approve the proposed budget to be sent to the budget committee to start preparing it for the town warrant.

The goal, Dunn said, is to produce a budget which would be funded through a level tax rate next year. He noted there is not yet an official tax rate for this year, but he has a good idea of what it will be. Based on that, the budget for next year is intended to have a level-funded municipal portion, he said, noting there are four components to the tax rate, but only one town leaders can control.

Last year’s total tax rate for Gilford was $11.25, with a municipal tax portion of $3.75. This year’s expected municipal rate is $4.05.

The biggest challenge when creating a level-funded budget is always personnel costs, Dunn said, due to wages and benefits.

“There is a substantial increase in our property liability insurance for next year,” Dunn said. “Other than that, it is maintaining a level of services.”

The proposed budget shows a 16.7% increase in the insurance and benefits line.

Based on the current proposal, this would be the second year for the town to spend $2.5 million on road improvements which have yet to be specified. Dunn said 2025 was the last year included in a five-year plan, so beginning in 2026, there will be a new five-year plan in place that will include a proposed list of roads to be improved.

The budget committee will meet with department leaders, and Dunn, then break into subcommittees to conduct research before presenting their findings and recommendations. The entire budget committee will vote on a tentative budget, hold a public hearing in January, and then it will be up to the voters to decide at Town Meeting.

The deadline for the warrant to be posted is the last Monday in January. Unlike the past two warrants, which included an article about the DPW building and before that a town beach bathhouse, Dunn doesn’t expect anything eye-catching to be added.

“This year is all pretty standard,” Dunn said. “Some vehicles and money going into capital reserve funds. Nothing really unusual at all. There are no new positions in the budget this year. It is really just maintaining status quo.”

The 2025 budget did include a training officer position in the fire department’s budget, as well as a police prosecutor position in the police department budget, but both were not fully funded. These will be included in the proposed budget, and both the training officer and prosecutor have already begun working in their roles.

The proposed police department budget is $4.5 million, and the fire-rescue proposed budget is $3.2 million, which are increases of 3.38% and 3.40% respectively.

Dunn said having the police and fire departments in such good shape, being fully staffed, is a positive aspect for the community.

“It is a function of what we pay for wages and benefits, and it is not cheap,” Dunn said.

The upcoming budget committee meeting will include a budget overview presentation where members will be able to ask questions. Members will be assigned to subcommittees, and meetings with each department will be scheduled, as well. Current members of the committee are Chair Joshua Ritson, Vice Chair Valerie Chase, Johnna-Dee Davis, Gaye Fedorchak, Amber LaTorre, Diane Muller, Purvi Patel, Kerri Ricci, Peter Sawyer, Benavides, Hayes, and Bob McLean representing the school board. 

The Gilford Budget Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30, in the first-floor conference room of Town Hall.