Representative Town Meeting approves $222.8 million budget
The authorized $222.8 million budget for Westport will be spent on many areas.
The Representative Town Meeting (RTM), the legislative body of Westport, approved the $222.8 million budget for 2022-23 on May 3. The allocated amount has increased by about $4 million, or 1.8%, from the 2021-2022 budget.
“These are the numbers that have been gone over by the committees, we’ve had many reports from everyone,” Jeffrey Wieser, a moderator for the RTM, acknowledges in CT Insider. “We are seeing these numbers not just for the first time but these are well researched.”
The budget covers all of the expenses that Westport is projected to make.
The Board of Education will receive $138.7 million, which is the agency that will be allocated the most funding from the budget. This will include funding for school operations, debt service, aid to private and parochial schools and program expenses.
The area receiving the second highest amount of money is public safety, which will be funded with $23.8 million. This will be used to fund the police, EMS, fire department and other safety agencies.
Initially, the Board of Finance recommended cutting $132,000 in transit spending. However, the RTM voted 30-1 to restore the funding.
Wheels2U, an affordable, environmentally-friendly shuttle service in Westport, will now operate through June 30, 2023 because of the reinstated funding. Peter Gold, Director of the Westport Transit District, confirmed the restoration of these funds.
“Over the last few weeks the RTM received over 200 letters from all segments of Westport’s population […] in support of restoring the funding,” Gold said in an interview with Westport Local. “It would not have happened without your engagement and support.”
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