Town Budget Season Will Open Without 2012 Grand List

When the Board of Finance receives Garry Brumback’s budget on Feb. 17, it will come without a key piece of information that will be needed before they can adopt a budget to forward to the Town Council.

The town’s grand list will not be released until near the end of the month, Brian Lastra said Thursday, as the town continues to enter eight years worth of data into the new computer system. The data will help provide simple, efficient and fast calculations in the future, he said, but the initial stage means a lot of work preparing for 2012.

“We are making great progress, but we weren’t ready to present the list on Jan. 31. We have a lot of historical information that needs to be entered into the system,” Lastra said. “We will certainly have it prepared before the end of the 30 day extension period, but there’s just a lot that still needs to be done.”

Town officials said the challenge was presented when the town , or GIS, in 2011. The new system will provide extensive information to the public and streamline the process once data entry is completed.

In addition to the historical data, the town has also faced additional challenges as a result of the recent revaluation and Vision Government Services, the company hired to conduct the revaluation efforts, is ironing out final details regarding certain commercial properties, Lastra said.

The town has over 2,000 commercial owners to sort through with all the new data and revaluations and information has still not fully been collected. Lastra said Vision Government Services staff has worked hard but still need a few weeks.

Brumback said Thursday afternoon that although there will be a delay in learning what the town’s potential revenue may be, he still intends to have all expenses sorted out and ready for review by the time the Board of Finance begins their portion of the budget process.

“It will not hold anything up. We will still be able to proceed as scheduled,” Brumback said. “This is a large investment into the town’s future and once it is complete, it will make the process so much easier I future years.”

Lastra said he will reevaluate the progress by mid-February and expects to set a release date for the grand list at that time.