Font ResizeBROOKLINE -- Town voters are being asked to raise $16,849 to retire a deficit from the fiscal year 2013 budget.
In a statement to the media released by Town Treasurer Somara Zwick, the deficit was explained as due to a "significant accumulated property tax delinquency" for fiscal year 2012 and the two prior years, which "finally caught up with the general fund balance, creating a net deficit in the amount warned."
"The primary cause is the payment of the education taxes, which cannot be deferred even if we have delinquent taxes owed to our town," wrote Zwick.
Per Vermont statutes, she wrote, a town can either warn the specific deficit amount to refund the deficit or must assess a fee of 5 percent of the Grand List value and add that to the taxes collected in the next fiscal year.
"In this case the amount warned is significantly smaller -- about 50 percent less -- thus the decision to warn in Article 10 was made by the Selectboard after consideration of the best action for the town," she noted. "Happily, our current delinquent tax collector is now vigorously pursuing the unpaid amounts, so this matter should be a thing of the past."
In addition, the Selectboard is asking voters to appropriate $202,000 for town expenses and nearly $6,000 for various community non-profit organizations.
The School Board is asking voters to approve $1.95 million for the 2013/2014 school year.
The Brookline Town Meeting will be
