After a tense and sometimes confusing Town Meeting, Devin Klein Corrigan, chair of the Warren Select Board, took the time to talk through what happened and anticipate how the town can do better next year.
At Town Meeting on March 3, this year’s budget discussion in Warren became contentious at times, due to several factors. town officials were navigating the budgeting process with relatively new leadership, staffing challenges created by the retirement of the town’s treasurer, and errors in spreadsheet system that created confusion about the town’s finances. Questions about a new town garage bond and how the budget was presented to voters also contributed to the tension.
This week Klein Corrigan discusses the meeting, resident reaction, and the opportunity it presents in the future.
Valley Reporter: Several residents said during Town Meeting that they were confused about how the budget was developed and presented this year. Can you explain what the select board was dealing with during the budgeting process?
Klein Corrigan: As far as the process is concerned, it was certainly our first year going through the budgeting process the way it happened this year. That was a new experience for both Camilla Behn, our vice chair, and I running that show, and for Rebecca Campbell, our town administrator, it was really only her second time through the budgeting process. At the same time, the town was dealing with staffing changes. We were dealing also with the retirement of our former treasurer, which meant there was a lack of a person in the treasurer’s seat with the historical knowledge. We were pushed to the max, and we didn’t have a lot of recourse with respect to understanding some of the failures in the spreadsheet itself.
Valley Reporter: One of the biggest points of confusion during Town Meeting involved the town’s financial spreadsheet. What exactly went wrong there?
Klein Corrigan: The spreadsheet seems to have some broken formulas, and I think that caused the largest piece of confusion. When we got to the bottom line on what was presented below the capital portion of the budget, the net expenditures in the capital budget weren’t adding into the net expenditures in the operating budget. That made it appear as though there was this $12 million surplus in 2024 alone, which is inaccurate.
Those numbers should have added together the way they did in the 2025 actuals. What we were looking at was not the same, so it wasn’t an apples-to-apples comparison because of that broken formula.
We did have an opportunity during the meeting to clarify that. It didn’t seem to be communicated in a way that was understandable the first time, but when we explained it again it cleared up at least one of the questions regarding this massive surplus and funds that we do not actually have.
Valley Reporter: Given that confusion, will the town change how the budget is presented going forward?
Klein Corrigan: Our spreadsheet needs a total overhaul! That became very clear to us with the confusion and frustration at Town Meeting. Both the town administrator and our new treasurer Patty Begin are excited about the opportunity to overhaul how we present the budget to the public and how we work with it internally. There is a fair amount of cleaning up that can be done.
We also heard comments from residents who said they would like to see more specificity in the budget presentation, and that is absolutely something we will keep in mind.
I think we also have an opportunity to explain the ways municipal budgeting and fund balance management are drastically different from a corporate budgeting experience. That distinction can get lost in the larger conversation.
Valley Reporter: Some residents left Town Meeting with the impression that the town might be sitting on a large surplus. What should voters understand about how those funds actually work?
Klein Corrigan: If I could clarify anything from Town Meeting for the voters, it would be reiterating that any surplus in taxes received by the municipality goes into the general fund.
Those funds are used every year to buy down the tax rate. The town is not overtaxing and underspending. The purpose of the general fund balance is to help stabilize the tax rate and manage the town’s finances responsibly from year to year.
Valley Reporter: The meeting at times felt tense, with some sharp exchanges about the budget. What do you think led to that kind of frustration?
Corrigan: I’m feeling somewhat unsure about the exact origins of the acrimony that we experienced, but I think there are a couple of factors in play. One of them is the bond for the town garage. While we did receive voter approval for that bond, it was by no means an overwhelming win. It was about a 60-40 split, which is certainly a strong majority but it is not saying everyone supports it.
When people then see almost a $400,000 increase in the budget to pay for that bond, I think that becomes a significant element of frustration. Plenty of people did not want that project to move forward.
There are also some very vocal opponents from a cost perspective who fundamentally disagree with the projected costs and the bond amount. Town meeting was an opportunity for them to express that disagreement. Our world is really stressful right now. A lot of things are happening that are far from our control. Because of that, people sometimes turn to local government as a place where they can participate in a meaningful way. Town Meeting has always been, and I hope it continues to be, an opportunity for people to participate in government. Sometimes that means expressing frustrations and stresses and angers that are both directly related to the meeting and not.
There was probably an element of that in the room.
Valley Reporter: One moment that stood out during the meeting was a resident requesting that an article be postponed. That doesn’t happen often. What was your reaction?
Corrigan: That was something I don’t recall ever seeing in my experience of Town Meeting.
Interestingly, our town clerk had printed out a handout explaining how residents can participate in Town Meeting using Robert’s Rules of Order. One of the elements discussed in that handout was the ability to postpone an article. While that request definitely derailed the conversation about the budget for a bit, I think it was also an interesting exercise in the public experience of Robert’s Rules. It showed someone directly using the information they had just received.
Valley Reporter: The meeting ran long, residents might have been getting hungry or tired. Is the timing of Town Meeting something the board can change?
Corrigan: We did have a long conversation at the end of the meeting about the time and place of Town Meeting, but that is not something the select board sets. It is something the townspeople vote on. Personally, I think it would help if Town Meeting were treated more like a civic holiday. I would like to see reliable child care offered at Town Meeting, and ideally it would be a state holiday so people could attend during the day and still manage their family responsibilities in the evening.
Valley Reporter: Looking ahead, would the select board consider sharing more financial updates during the year so residents can follow the budget earlier in the process?
Corrigan: That may become easier with the new treasurer. I have heard from her that she is excited to provide more regular fund balance information, possibly on a monthly basis.
Previously we didn’t always know exactly where an account stood partway through the year. We tended to get that information closer to the end of the year and during budgeting season. I can’t express enough how excited I am to have this whole process engaged with differently and to have a better understanding of the budget throughout the fiscal year so we are not trying to understand so much in such a short period of time.
Valley Reporter: Finally, what would you like residents to know about participating in the budgeting process before Town Meeting?
Corrigan: Outreach is a challenge for municipal government everywhere. We are volunteers, and our town administrator is incredibly busy. That said, we do hold regular meetings. The select board meets every second and fourth Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., and during budgeting season we meet every week. We do have a number of residents who attend regularly and provide thoughtful input, and that participation is wonderful. Others watch the meetings afterward, and even that retroactive participation is appreciated.
I would encourage people to engage in the conversation before the town report goes to printing so we have the opportunity to address errors or modify things.
We spend about two and a half to three months deep in this budget, and we look at the spreadsheet so much that sometimes we miss things. One improvement I would like to see is bringing in a few additional people to review the format, the numbers and the formulas before the document goes to print. That kind of extra set of eyes could help prevent confusion and make the process clearer for everyone next year.
You might also like
