Easton residents will vote Tuesday on a $54 million town budget, the Region 9 operating budget and three other questions in a townwide referendum at Samuel Staples Elementary School.
The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the school, 515 Morehouse Road. Voters will weigh five separate questions, each decided independently. The April 27 Annual Town Meeting adjourned the items to Tuesday’s machine vote.
The largest question on the ballot asks voters to approve a $53,997,174 town budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, a 5.28 percent increase over the current adopted budget of $51,290,542. The Board of Finance approved the recommendation on April 7, $728,727 below the $54,725,901 originally requested by departments. The total includes Easton’s share of the Region 9 budget at $13,776,405, down 1.81 percent; the Easton Board of Education operating budget at $22,778,620, up 9.35 percent; and town government accounts, capital and a $250,000 shared school maintenance fund totaling $17,442,149, up 6.16 percent.
At the Annual Town Meeting, the Board of Finance projected that the budget would require a mill rate of 33.16 mills for real estate and personal property, up from the current 31.00 mills, an increase of 6.98 percent. Because that exceeds the state’s 32.46-mill cap on motor vehicle taxes, the motor vehicle mill rate would be set at 32.46. The projection assumes $1 million from the undesignated fund balance applied as a revenue offset.
Voters also will consider the $27,226,097 operating budget for Regional School District No. 9, the school district shared by Easton and Redding that operates Joel Barlow High School. The amount is a 2.78 percent increase over the current $26,489,155. Easton’s share decreases by 1.81 percent under the cost-sharing formula, while Redding’s share, $13,449,692, increases by 7.95 percent. Voters in both Easton and Redding cast ballots on the Region 9 budget. Results are reported separately by town. Under state law, if a majority of voters across the district reject the budget, the Region 9 Board of Education must call another district meeting within four weeks to consider the same or an amended budget.
A third question asks voters to approve $50,000 from the undesignated fund balance for the town’s legal budget for the current fiscal year ending June 30. The original $100,000 legal appropriation has been nearly exhausted. A larger $150,000 supplemental request failed at the Dec. 10 special town meeting, and the Board of Finance later approved a $20,000 special appropriation from the undesignated fund balance to the legal budget at its Jan. 6 meeting.
A fourth question asks voters to approve $60,000 from the undesignated fund balance to cover Police Department overtime above the budgeted amount for the current fiscal year. Three or four officers have been out on workers’ compensation or personal injury since the start of the fiscal year, the department reported at the Annual Town Meeting, and contractual requirements have driven overtime above budget.
The final question asks voters to adopt amendments to Chapter 160 of the town’s Purchasing Ordinance, raising the dollar thresholds at which competitive bidding is required for town purchases. Under the proposed amendments, purchases of $10,000 or less, currently $2,500 or less, would be made under policies set by the purchasing authority. Purchases between $10,000 and $25,000, currently between $2,500 and $7,500, would require at least three proposals. Sealed bids and public notice would be required for purchases of $25,000 or more, currently $7,500 or more. The chapter was last amended in 2011. The state ceiling for sealed-bid requirements rose from $25,000 to $35,000 on Oct. 1, 2025.
Absentee ballots must be received no later than 8 p.m. Tuesday. Completed ballots can be deposited in the official drop box across from the Police Department entrance at Town Hall or returned in person to the Town Clerk’s Office at 225 Center Road.
The official agenda and budget presentations from the April 27 Annual Town Meeting are available on the town’s website.
See the Channel 79 page on the town website for links to video recordings of Town Meetings and meetings of Easton’s boards and commissions.
