Tuesday evening, the Woodbridge Board of Finance gathered to review the proposed budget for the coming year. In these difficult times, revenues have fallen, as has the value of houses on the grand list. As a result, even a very lean budget would result in tax increases and an even greater increase in the mill rate when it is most challenging for residents to meet new expenses.

Like a family around the dinner table, they rolled up their shirt sleeves and looked closely at every line item, looking for expenses that weren’t necessary or could be postponed.

The largest cut came to the Board of Finances’ contingency fund. This is money that the Board of Finance sets aside for unexpected situations, such as negotiated salary increases that take place after the budget is approved, or unexpected large expenses. The contingency fund is already lower than it really should be, but the board decided to make a further cut in the fund in an effort to decrease any immediate tax increases as well as to pressure department heads to be as conservative as possible with their expenses over the coming year.

The second largest cut came to the Woodbridge Board of Education’s technology capital replacement fund. This is the money that the school spends on keeping its computers up to date. It is hoped that the current computers can be used a little longer than predicted and that if the school has any extra funds towards the end of the year, it can pre-purchase some of the computers that it needs.

Coming in third was the money that Woodbridge sets aside for retiree benefits. Woodbridge has always done a good job of setting aside money to cover future retiree benefits. It was decided that this year, the town could afford to put in a reduced amount.

These cuts were a result of the town having wisely used its money during better financial times, and hopefully full funding of these line items will return in better times.

With these large items out of the way, the board then went through a department by department basis and trimmed small amounts off of many different departments. The board did not want to micromanage, so it will be up to the individual departments to find the best way of absorbing these cuts.

At the end of the night, the total spending increase for the Town of Woodbridge for the coming year came in at just under 1%.

(Cross-posted at the Woodbridge Citizen.)