CHESHIRE, Mass. — Town officials are finalizing figures for the fiscal 2023 budget, which is around $6,850,000.

 

This year's proposal is roughly $200,000 more than this year's budget of around $6.6 million.

 

"I think we're in the neighborhood," Selectman Shawn McGrath said at Thursday joint meeting with the Finance Committee. "We need to tweak a few things but I think at least we've got a lot of data to get there."

 

The major goal for the coming fiscal year is to use less free cash, which was discussed at multiple points during the meeting while analyzing different line items. The panels mulled an informal goal of about $150,000 in free cash usage.

 

The town has around $656,000 in free cash, $448,000 in its general fund, and about $114,000 in its capital fund. Cheshire has not yet allocated any of the approximately $916,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies it received.

 

For FY23, the town's maximum allowable levy is about $4.7 million and it expects to raise about a little over $2 million in local receipts and other revenue sources.

 

One part of the budget that will require additional conversation is the town's educational budget, as the town was requested a six percent increase from its participating school districts and is proposing only a three percent increase.

 

The Selectmen feel that Hoosac Valley Regional School District has not been transparent with its asks and has not provided detailed information about the budget breakdown. McCann Technical School, on the other hand, has done so according to the panel.

 

"All we did was ask for the kind of clarity and transparency that again, the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District provided us and we get blocked," Chair Michelle Francesconi said.

 

"We get told ‘No, that's inappropriate for you to ask.'"

 

The town's budget meetings started in February and it will be presented for a vote at the annual town meeting on June 13. The panels also discussed changing the town's bylaw to have the annual meeting earlier, as the current date is just a couple of weeks before the new fiscal year on July 1.

 

This will be on the agenda for the next joint meeting on Tuesday.