Canton's Budget Season Heats Up This Week/Month

CANTON, CT — With Canton selectmen having a key meeting on the budget Thursday, March 6, the Canton Board of Finance is urging folks to mark their calendars and participate in the process.

Budget participation helps town officials determine the level and extent of town/school services, as well as how much folks will have to pay in taxes later this summer.

The Canton Board of Selectmen has a special hybrid meeting slated for Thursday, March 6, at 10 a.m. with the lone action item being 2025-26 budget discussions and "possible action."

The meeting comes as elected officials — selectmen, finance board and school board members — work to cultivate town and school spending plans for voters by May.

Currently, the initial spending plan put forth by Canton Chief Administrative Officer Mark J. Penney is significantly larger than current spending.

But Penney's budget is just a starting point for officials to get to work.

As the town budget stands, it is $14.8 million (town operations and capital improvements), which is a figure 10.68 percent larger than current spending.

The school budget, meanwhile, also comes with a steep increase as the Canton school superintendent's budget is $34.86 million, 5.88 percent larger.

While the school board works to finalize a spending plan for the town, the Canton Board of Finance Tuesday issued a notice to taxpayers about the upcoming budget process, which will get decidedly busier this month.

"Our March meetings are particularly important as we review proposed town and school budgets," wrote Canton Board of Finance Chairman Brian Miller Tuesday. "Transparency is a key priority."

Miller outlined an in-depth budget timeline that includes a selectmen budget presentation to the finance board March 17, a Canton Board of Education budget presentation on March 19, along with public hearings, budget workshops and, eventually, a referendum May 8.

That is when the final spending plans for 2025-26 will be decided, along with a sense of how much taxes will increase this year (if they do at all).

For the latest Canton Board of Education budget information, click on this link.

For the Canton Chief Administrative Officer's preliminary budget, click on this link.