Windsor Locks' Proposed 2011-12 Budget To Be Voted On Tuesday

Windsor Locks officials are hoping that residents will approve the proposed $43.1 million budget during the annual town meeting Tuesday because it has a less than 1 percent increase.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of .

The spending plan represents a $162,000, or 0.38 percent, increase over the current budget, officials said. If approved by residents, the budget would increase the tax rate by .25 mills to 23.40 mills.

The mill rate is increasing less than had been originally proposed by the money the town receives from the state for manufacturing and equipment had been restored, officials said.

“We won’t feel the full impact that we thought we would,” First Selectman Steven N. Wawruck Jr. said recently.

Board of Finance Chairman Con O’KLeary said he is optimistic that voters will approve the budget because there has been positive reaction to it so far.

“It was well received in the public hearing,” O’Leary said.

The budget also contains a $400,000, or 1.98 percent, increase for the board of education. School officials had requested a more than $600,000 increase. The town side or general government portion of the budget increases by one percent, or $163,837, to $15.1 million.

O’Leary said the board of finance was able to craft a budget that has a nearly zero percent increase. The board had instructed town departments and agencies to propose budgets with no increases.

“It’s third year in a row that we’ve had a near zero increase,” O’Leary said.

Town officials are monitoring Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s negotiations with state employee unions and the possibility of a plan B state budget that could negatively impact Windsor Locks.

O’Leary said every year the town has to put together a budget while there is a lot of uncertainty about the state’s budget. Town officials use the best information available when they come up with a final spending proposal, he added.