The Finance Committee will survey residents in order to better understand the importance of services to them so the committee can develop a budget that reflects important town needs and preferences during difficult economic times.
Chairman George McKenna stated at the committee’s Aug. 19 meeting, “It’s no secret that this is going to be a difficult budget year,” and referenced state cuts in health care, education, local aid, home care for seniors, public safety, services for the disabled, homeless shelters, emergency assistance, and more. In preparing to respond to these cuts, the committee will ask residents to rate the importance in their lives of services that are provided by town departments that have budgets. The survey will ask questions about current service levels and quality, and whether services should be expanded, reduced, or discontinued. The survey may also allow for suggestions and recommendations from residents.
Finance Committee members have worked with town departments to construct questions and will meet to integrate questions from each department into a single survey.
The plan is to distribute the survey electronically and in paper form, with paper surveys available at the General Store, the library, the post office, Town Hall, and other sites. McKenna said he hopes that the survey will be available sometime after Labor Day, and will be closed by October. Survey results will be made public and used at an all-boards meeting of the town’s departments in October.
