Granby Drummer (https://granbydrummer.com/category/town/about-town/)
In the July Drummer update, I detailed the important work two recently reconstituted committees were undertaking. These are the IBAC, the Intra-Board Advisory Committee on shared services and the PBCPC, the Public Building and Capital Project Committee on the possible December bond questions.
At the June 1 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, two important actions occurred that “will move the Town of Granby forward.” The first action was the appointment of six town residents—Christopher LaVigne, Mark Gottlieb, Peter Anderson, Anne Adamson, Michael Lengvarsky and William Pascucci—to the Public Building and Capital Project Committee.
In my column for the October issue of the Drummer, I explained how Granby practices direct democracy. This means you, the voters through the ballot box, choose your elected officials, approve the town’s annual budget, and periodically are asked to go to the polls to approve spending and funding for large capital projects. The process where voters approve spending and funding for large capital projects is called “bonding.”
If it’s April, then the FY27 budget vote is right around the corner. That vote will occur on Monday, April 20, and you can vote in town hall between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Absentee ballots are also available from the town clerk.
Granby’s Budget Workshops on the FY27 operating budget will start in early March (5, 9 and 12 at 5 p.m. in Town Hall for town spending and March 11 at 7 p.m. at the Senior Center for the board of education spending, culminating with a board of finance public hearing on Monday, April 6, at 7 p.m., at the high school.
Two years ago in this paper, I introduced myself to the community of Granby. In that introduction, I offered up a host of financial metrics on the Town of Granby.
In this Drummer article, I’ll refresh some of those metrics as an introduction to the coming FY27 budget process.
As we enter December and the holiday season, a lot is going on at Town Hall. For instance, on Saturday, Dec. 6, the annual Tree Lighting to bring in the season will be held outside of the library at 4:30 p.m.
Granby is a town that practices “direct democracy.” What does that mean? It means you, the voters, through the ballot box, choose your elected officials every other November, you approve the town’s annual budget in April and, periodically, you are asked to go to the polls to approve spending and funding for large infrastructure (capital) improvements.
Each year after the budget is approved, department heads prepare work plans for the initiatives they plan to complete with the approved funds. Departmental work plans focus on initiatives over and above daily operations with the overarching goal to “move the town forward”.
Who remembers the Blizzard of 1978? Or the 24 inches of snow Granby received in early 2011? Or the 2011 October snowstorm when we lost power for over a week? How about Superstorm Sandy in 2012?