Milton council holds public hearing on budget

Milton Town Council held a blissfully brief public hearing on the town’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget Aug. 18 and is set to move to voting on the plan at its Monday, Sept. 8 meeting.

The public hearing on the budget was lightly attended and took only a half-hour to get through. 

Steve Crawford of 216 Ridge Road, who spoke at the hearing, gave his explanation.

“In the past, these kinds of meetings, the room would be full of people, half of whom would be bitching and moaning about what was going on with the town budget. Speaking for myself, what you have done represents the correct path, because there’s hardly anybody here, and nobody is bitching and moaning,” he said. 

The budget calls for a 3.35% increase to property taxes and also includes a new, data-driven capital improvement plan. All told, under the proposed budget, the town would have a $15,000 surplus.

Crawford said while no one likes their taxes being increased, the town kicked the can down the road for years under previous administrations.

“We wound up with a mess that you folks had to get us out of. It’s been painful for a lot of people in this town,” he said.

Crawford said he would like to see the increase be 6%, as his fear was that the proposed 3.35% increase was not enough to keep up with rising costs that are not likely to go down. For the past year, officials have been working with consultants PFM to change the way the town does business, relying less on reserve funds and realty transfer tax revenues to merely balance the budget, instead building up reserves. Also, if those reserve funds are used, they go toward capital expenses. 

Last year, council increased property taxes by 30%, which was intended to increase reserves and avoid future large increases. This year’s increase is in keeping with an ordinance passed in 2024 that tied property tax increases to the consumer price index and the employment cost index. Property taxes are the town’s primary source of revenue, accounting for 66% of funding. The increase will bring the town an additional $75,000. 

Maurice McGrath said the town should honor a proposed average 8% pay increase for town employees.

“They’ve been loyal to the town, and I think the town needs to be loyal to them. Especially the water guys. When a water main breaks, they’re up until 1 a.m., 2 a.m. in the morning trying to fix it. They deserve it,” he said.

McGrath said the town should also restore $18,000 to the police budget to help attract and retain officers for the force. Chief Derrick Harvey has said Milton’s department does not pay as much as other local departments, so the town loses out on potential recruits and has to fight to maintain current officers. Council agreed to add that $18,000 to the budget, as the money would be funded by the $75,000 in additional revenue the town will receive from the tax increase. 

The FY 2026 budget does not include real estate transfer tax revenue as anything other than reserves. Part of the rationale for weaning the town off transfer tax revenue is because it can be unpredictable, and Rogers told the town’s finance committee Aug. 5 that data shows home buying and new construction slowing down. 

The finance committee finished its budget review Aug. 14. Councilman Tom Arkinson, committee chair, read the group’s recommendations, which include: updating the capital improvement plan, doing an annual review with PFM regarding long-range planning, revisiting parking fee revenues, funding pay increases for the police and municipal employees, adding road maintenance to the capital improvement fund, and considering using county property assessments when appropriate. The town declined to use the new county assessments this year, saying there was not enough time for implementation before the fiscal year 2026 budget would go into effect and because council did not want to hit residents with another large increase. The new county reassessments will generally increase residential property taxes countywide. 

If council approves the budget Sept. 8, when its meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. at Milton library, the document would go into effect Wednesday, Oct. 1.