East Windsor Board of Finance Sets Proposed 2012-13 Budget For May 8 Referendum

The East Windsor Board of Finance Thursday approved the proposed 2012-13 budget on which residents will vote during the May 8 referendum.

The $34,438,525 budget represents about a 3.58 percent increase over the current $33,247,478 spending plan.

The board held the special meeting Thursday to discuss the budget after getting input from a public hearing on Wednesday. Officials said 10 residents spoke, half in favor of the budget, and half telling town officials to try harder in crafting a lean budget proposal.

Jason Bowsza, board of finance chairman, said he thinks town officials did a good job in putting together the spending plan.

“I’m particularly impressed with the level of cooperation between the board of finance, board of education and board of selectmen,” Bowsza said. “It’s a marked departure from the past.”

Board of finance member Kathleen Pippen said the boards worked a lot of hours to make sure the proposal was as lean as possible.

"We did our best," Pippen said.

The budget originally proposed to the board by town and board of education officials was $34.98 million. The board of finance reduced that amount during its deliberations.

However, after hearing a request from the veterans commission during the public hearing, the board decided on Thursday to add $1,000 to budget. The money will be used to place flags on the graves of military veterans buried in town cemeteries, officials said.

Board members said the increase is not significant and the reason for it is more than appropriate. Board member Joseph Pellegrini said if people lose sleep over placing flags on the graves of  the fallen residents they’ve got bigger issues.

This is the third year, the budget is under a charter change requiring a referendum vote to be approved. If voters don’t approve the budget in three referendums, the spending plan is automatically increased by 2 percent.

Bowsza said he is optimistic the budget will be approved by residents. He said the budget is scaling back of a level funding plan and that board members looked to make reductions without negatively impacting services.