NORWICH — After weeks of debate, a divided Selectboard approved a general fund budget proposal of $6.7 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The spending plan represents an overall increase of just over 8% from the current budget. Driving the increase are rising wages and health insurance costs.

The board voted 3-2 to approve the budget at its Jan. 8 meeting. Board members Marcia Calloway, Roger Arnold and Mary Layton supported the budget, while Chairwoman Pam Smith and member Priscilla Vincent opposed it.

“I have confidence that the town staff have competently assessed the needs of their departments and are putting forth the barest budgets possible in order to continue the level of services expected by residents of Norwich,” wrote Calloway in a memorandum to the board included in the Jan. 8 meeting packet.

Despite concerns over the property tax burden, Smith, Arnold and Vincent opposed using any of the approximately $591,000 in anticipated budget surplus to keep taxes lower.

Last year, the board appropriated $700,000 of the town’s surplus for tax relief.

“I don’t want to keep over-budgeting and giving it back,” Vincent said, according to a recording of a Jan. 22 meeting where the board finalized the Town Meeting warning articles.

Instead, Town Meeting voters will be asked whether to spend any surplus on repairs to Tracy Hall, a Department of Public Works “bridge fund” and a fund dedicated to responding to the emerald ash borer, an invasive species which threatens ash trees along Norwich’s roadways.

Because the town won’t be applying the surplus to taxes this year and there is a projected loss in fees and services revenues, the town needs to raise 24.5% more revenue from town property taxes in fiscal year 2026 than it has had to for the current fiscal year.

However, this does not mean individual tax bills necessarily  will go up by 24.5%.

Norwich is in a reappraisal year, which will most likely change the grand list pretty drastically: “It’s really impossible to put together a firm tax rate,” Town Manager Brennan Duffy said in a recording of the Dec. 18 meeting. The reappraisal process is expected to be completed April 1, according to the town’s website.

Regardless of the variables, some officials have questioned whether the town can stomach the increase.

“Will this be the first time the voters reject a Town budget?” Smith wrote in a Dec. 22 Norwich Listserv post. “Or, will the voters approve what I personally believe is a bloated budget that could be pared down to keep property taxes as low as possible?”

Smith, who is not seeking reelection next month, proposed several cuts, such as eliminating $68,000 from the Department of Public Works contracted services budget and reducing the amount budgeted for legal fees.

“Given that the actual FY25, expenses for the first 5 months of the fiscal year are under $9,000, is it reasonable to think that $90,000 is overstated?” Smith wrote in an email to Duffy included in the Jan. 22 Selectboard packet.

Smith pointed out that with an open meeting law violation lawsuit, the drafting of the town manager’s three-year contract and union negotiations, the legal expenses for the 2024 fiscal year were $85,600, about $10,000 less than the town had budgeted.

Duffy replied: “With unknown future litigation, I believe budgeting for $90,000 is appropriate.”

The board voted to reduce the legal budget line item by $10,000, but rejected Smith’s motion to reduce the Department of Public Work’s contracted services budget.

Resident Bruce Genereaux voiced his concerns with the 8% budget increase at the Jan. 8 meeting.

“Long term, you’re going to start pricing people out of this town,” he said in the recording of the meeting.

Norwich residents will get a chance to vote on the budget and additional articles by Australian ballot on Tuesday, March 4, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Tracy Hall, located at 300 Main St.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.