Selectboard members were all ears at an April 8 "listening session" and spent most of an April 10 meeting discussing where and how to start to peel the budget onion, once again.
"This is not going to be an easy lift, but Brattleboro is worth it," said State Sen. Wendy Harrison, speaking via Zoom, at the listening session.
That meeting saw a full room of more than 40 residents along with an almost equal number in attendance on Zoom.
"We on the Selectboard are in a listening mode in the course of our many meetings this month on the budget," said board Chair Elizabeth McLoughlin.
At an earlier board meeting, on April 1, when the board first met to start to plan how to redraft a budget schedule, McLoughlin said, "We're looking at a very lean budget of services we all want to have.
"I think we need to come to terms with all the various things [Representative Town Meeting] said and translate that into what services are integral to the working of the town, and which services would be nice to have, if we can afford it," she continued.
"I don't think it's going to be the most pleasant exercise, but it's one we're charged with," McLoughlin said.
The budget was sent back to the newly seated board by Representative Town Meeting (RTM) on March 23, when members rejected the budget proposal created by the former board, which included three different people at the table.
Those in attendance at the listening session expressed concerns about wide-ranging budget aspects, including safety, the cost of living here, concern for neighbors, and building the economy. They discussed where money is being spent, how much, and why.
Questions and opinions also covered EMS/fire, transparency, trash, police, the library, Parks & Recreation, and restoring money for the arts.
Listening up
Asked what values folks want to see reflected in the budget, Ken Fay of District 8 said he'd like to see "compassion."
"I would like for the budget to focus on the humans more than businesses," he said, adding that "safety for all people in Brattleboro" is important to him as well.
Melissa Swim, also of District 8, noted safety as her "number one" concern, and not just for those who are "housed and safe."
"We have a duty to take care of those most vulnerable," Swim said, adding that roads and road maintenance are also at the top of the list for her.
Several in attendance urged the board to restore the Town Arts Fund to the budget, among them several teenagers who also advocated for Brooks Memorial Library.
"I want it all," said Dina Chadwick of District 9. "Don't we want to have a beautiful downtown and to help people? We need so many things. How do you help people when you don't have money?"
She noted a need to focus on increasing revenue without being entirely dependent on raising taxes that homeowners can't afford.
District 9 RTM Representative Marta Gossage noted that pitting human service needs against a need for police and public safety doesn't help matters, while Susan Belleville of District 8 said she feels there is no reason the board can't take a "hard, strong stand on public safety" and thus potentially encourage businesses to locate here by addressing the problems at hand.
"You guys need to sit down and figure out what are we going to do to bring people here to open up businesses," said Mark Younger of District 9. "We need to get back to basics."
Younger said that the town needs "to make businesses thrive and want to come here, and the only way we can do that is hold their hand and help them however we can."
"I've been here for 59 years and I think it's the worst it's been in 15 years," he said, saying that the board will "really have to pay attention and help businesses grow."
Others wanted to look at how the town disposes of trash again, as well as how emergency services are handled.
Setting things up
Town Manager John Potter, speaking of the potential approach and process at the board's April 1 meeting, warned of the consequences of eliminating services.
"When we start peeling those back, it's gonna have repercussions to somebody in the community," he said.
He acknowledged that he "get[s] your point - we can't afford it, we can't afford it - but let's be honest about what those [cuts] are going to mean and let's do that in a thoughtful way that's going to take more than two or three weeks."
McLoughlin added that she read the RTM Finance Committee's report and saw recommendations in it that might actually add to the budget. One example was to restore the town's previous practice of anticipating purchases like replacement of major equipment and adding money annually to a municipal fund that would let the town purchase equipment without incurring debt.
"We might come back with a budget that's higher," she said.
Opinions abounded that night during discussion of whether to start with the rejected budget or take things back to the original requests from department heads, as well as how to organize discussion.
"It feels very very much that this is just setting us up to re-litigate the same arguments that we've been having over and over again," said Gossage, adding she'd like to avoid seeing "the same people get up and say the same things."
She had suggested a discussion of values happen first, perhaps via an online survey of positive statements of what people want their town to look like versus hearing again in person from "just the loudest voices in the room."
One person in attendance chastised the OGs on the board to "be open to the process."
Resident Christina Shayonye, who ran unsuccessfully for a board seat, said voters want to hear from the new board members now.
"We haven't heard from you guys […] We have three new Selectboard members who have new things to say about the budget, and then feedback can come from the new directions," she said.
Former board member Richard DeGray, attending via Zoom, said he thought planning for just one RTM to pass a new budget was "really rolling the dice" and that time should be left to schedule two in case a first failed to pass a budget.
As to what might be cut, DeGray said the town "won't know for a year" if a service is cut what the impact is on residents.
"We have sacred lambs here," he said. "Everything has to be on the table."
Former board member Kathleen O'Connor said she thinks the budget must be cut, and that's how board members should approach a new plan.
"I think it needs to be basically clear from you folks on the board - I mean, your ultimate goal is we have to reduce the budget," she said.
She also told the Selectboard that "you folks have to listen with the understanding ofwhat RTM's mission was, and also the understanding in your head the long-term implications of what this budget means."
And, she noted, "the bigger context is the financial free fall that we're in."
A lively discussion
At the subsequent April 10 board meeting to discuss the takeaways from the listening session and todevelop a budget schedule, Selectboard member Peter Case said he's "still trying to figure out how we're going to lower this [budget] number."
He added, "I heard a lot of people wanting to add things in; I didn't hear a lot of 'take things out.'"
Case said he heard in the April 8 session that "people really do kind of want to take a look at people's employment with the town as a way of reducing the budget."
He added he's not a fan of that approach, saying, "Those salaries will go away; the responsibilities will not."
Case said he is "struggling to figure out whose job gets cut if we're going to cut to the chase" but described the "long-term effects" of such an approach.
At times, as the April 10 discussion wore on, a hint of frustration simmered as board members expressed different notions about how to approach re-budgeting.
Oscar Heller, new board vice chair, said he had been thinking about a "hiring freeze" and would "like to have a conversation about the last position on the Brattleboro Resource Assistance Team (BRAT).
Currently numbering eight people, the team consists of level-two, unarmed officers who patrol downtown.
Heller said he thought not filling currently unfilled positions offers a "rare opportunity to decrease costs without firing anyone," but Town Manager John Potter said it is "very disruptive" to town staff members to have conversations about individual positions.
He said, for instance, that if the board decided to change BRAT coverage of the downtown, he'd make the adjustment, but he had to have an idea of what they want first.
BRAT is part of the Selectboard's broader community safety agenda that includes a Community Conduct Ordinance, community safety messaging campaign, and other actions to address public health and safety in town.
The team was launched as a pilot project in 2023 and formalized by the Selectboard in August 2024.
McLoughlin pointed out that Potter has "over and over again" given the board a list of services. She said the Selectboard is charged with making policy decisions, not looking at individual positions.
"We should be having a discussion about services, not people," she said.
Heller respectfully disagreed.
"The thing I want to do is not have less BRAT services; it's to find ways to economize and reduce the budget and I've been told that doing it by attrition and a hiring freeze is a good way to do that," Heller said.
"I manage the staff. If you tell me to reduce the police budget, I'll find a way to do that," said Potter, noting if the board wanted to redefine his job description, too, they are welcome to do so as a group.
Where do they stand?
The April 10 meeting offered a first real glimpse into how board members may interact and work as a whole and how new board members express themselves - and what they're thinking.
Earlier in the meeting, Heller spoke frankly about his budget thoughts, saying they were what he came to the meeting feeling and not necessarily where he would end up.
Having said that, he said that while a comprehensive and strategic review of the budget is needed, it's a long process and one he'd prefer to take up over the course of the coming year, once the FY26 budget is approved.
"In general, we're probably down to three or four weeks left of this process, and I don't think it's wise or valuable to make major changes to how departments work or town works," Heller said.
Heller, who chaired the RTM Finance Committee, also said the board needs to find some way to look at the emergency medical services administered by the Fire Department and "figure out if we think it's meeting the projections we set out initially."
"We can't have this huge department and be unable to evaluate it," he said, adding that's another lengthy project.
"What I'm talking about is not a hugely different budget going back to RTM," Heller said, adding he would like such a budget to be accompanied by a pledge to voters that the board would commit to make a comprehensive review for the FY27 budget.
New board member Amanda Ellis-Thurber said she would continue to look for new revenue streams.
"The failed budget might be a chance to introduce new revenues," she said, noting there may be "other options" worth looking at for trash removal.
"I am hopeful that cuts can be made and revenues can be enhanced," McLoughlin said.
Board members seemed to agree that picking a number - whether bottom line or percentage increase - and working to meet that number is not an ideal process.
New member Isaac Evans-Frantz said he believes even the current 12% increase overall to this year's rejected budget is "a lot, and it's too much."
He said he believes voters wanted a new board to look at the budget and that they don't intend to lock board members into a number by design, adding one can't pick a target number "without knowing what that would mean."
Dates to follow
In the end, the board set the following budget discussion schedule for foreseeable Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:15 p.m.:
• Tuesday, April 15: Review Finance Committee report, structural budget issues and solid waste. (This meeting took place after The Commons went to press with this week's paper.)
• Thursday, April 17: Review revenue, 2024-25 Selectboard budget reductions, and possible service reductions other than in public safety.
• Tuesday, April 22: Review possible service reductions in public safety.
• Thursday, April 24: Review the preliminary revised FY26 budget.
• Tuesday, April 29: Possibly make a decision on the revised FY26 budget, vote to recommend it, and warn Representative Town Meeting.
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.