Voters Will Cast Their Opinions on Proposed 2011-12 East Windsor Budget Tuesday

Voters will decide Tuesday whether to approve the $33.14 million 2011-12 budget through a referendum.

The vote will take place from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at and the town hall annex.

The $33,141,666 spending plan represents a $639,925, or 1.9 percent, increase over the current budget, officials said. The budget is more than $500,000 less than the preliminary budget presented during a public hearing on April 5.

The board of finance approved the proposal at its April 20 meeting. Board members wanted to keep both the budget increase, and how much it would cause taxes to rise, low.

First Selectwoman Denise Menard said last week that the board of finance did not cut much from the town’s proposed budget. Menard said she is however concerned that the budget has only $86,000 in contingency money, down from $300,000 in the 2010-11 budget.

The town government’s proposed budget was $13,941,374 and represented a 1.9 percent increase over the approved 2010-11 budget. The board of education’s proposal was  $19,726,451 and represented a 4.77 percent increase over the 2010-11 spending plan.

Under the budget proposal approved by the board of finance,  the board of education will get a $578,245 increase and town government will get a $61,680 increase.

Linda Giuliano, business manager for the school system, told board of education members last week that the current budget proposal will not require eliminating any positions.

This is the second 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.

Giuliano said if the budget isn’t approved within three referendums, the 2 percent across-the-board increase limit would require the school system to cut more than $500,000 for the current proposal.

Today is the last day to get , for those who qualify, from the town clerk’s office.