By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

BURRILLVILLE — At a pre-budget season meeting held last December, Burrillville Town Manager Michael C. Wood told a gathering of municipal and school officials that the town would try to cut costs and weather the recession by instituting a hiring freeze and eliminating “all non-essential spending.”

At the time, it was too early to predict how painful those budget cuts would be.
Four months later, and with Wood’s proposed $46.9 million town operating budget for fiscal 2010 now set to go to the Town Council for a vote on June 15, the cuts Wood has proposed will see a handful of town employees without jobs, but critical town services intact — at least for now.
Wood’s budget, which is $947,503, or 1.98 percent, lower than the current fiscal year budget, calls for the elimination of the full-time deputy animal control officer position — held by Kerry L. Courtemanche — for a savings of $31,000, and a $21,197, or 11.8 percent, decrease in the town manager’s department due to the elimination of a part-time clerical assistant.
In the assessors budget, Wood is proposing a savings of $22,065 due to the elimination of one-half of a financial aid position in the assessors’ office.
There is also a projected savings of $27,372 in the tax collector’s office due to the reduction of one half of a financial aid as well as a reduction in  equipment.
Wood’s proposed budget also assumes a savings of $3,588 in the information services budget due to the reduction of professional services and an intern position.
The biggest savings, however, will be realized in the Police Department budget where two positions - a detective position and a partrolman position - will not be funded by the town next year, but, hopefully, money from the federal Community Oriented Policing Services Office (COPS) grant. In addition, the police substation on Pascoag Main Steet will be closed to save money.
“Although the economy appears to be weak nationally, Rhode Island is in a severe recession,” Wood said. “When the times are good, taxpayers at all levels tend to be more generous and are more tolerant to try new things. However, the opposite is also true when times are tough. Whether its adding staff, implementing new programs, considering increases in wages or benefits, or making decisions involving future financial commitments, those decisions must be made considering the short- and long-term impacts of those decisions.”
According to the spending plan, the town proposes to increase its property tax levy to $21,884,569 for fiscal 2009-2010, which is a 4.16 percent increase over the current property tax levy of $21,011, 174.
The proposed increase in property tax revenues will result in a tentative property tax rate of $12.63 per $1,000 of assessed valuation- a 78-cent net increase per $1,000 valuation over this year’s $11.85 tax rate.
Wood’s recommended budget, which is within the state’s 4.75 percent levy cap, includes a municipal operating budget of $9,726,449, which represents a $33,315, or .34 percent, increase over the current year.
The total projected non-tax revenue in the budget is $25,042,706, which represents a $1,691,536, or 6.33 percent, decrease from last year’s estimates.
The overall cost of employee benefits in the proposed budget has decreased by $24,439, or 1.33 percent, with retirement costs declining by approximately $80,500. Offsetting part of the decrease is an increase in health insurance of $54,000 and unemployment insurance of $6,000. Wood said health insurance costs would have reflected an additional $53,000 if municipal employees stayed with the current insurance plan, which is being phased out and replaced with a less costly plan on July 1.
“We try to balance out the many good programs and services we offer to our community with the ability of our residents to pay for those programs and services,” Wood said. “When the economy is not performing as expected, many people who support school and municipal services by paying local property taxes are themselves in a hardship. We must be cognizant of this, especially our disabled, elderly, our young families and those living on fixed incomes. School and municipal tax increase can result in a far more substantive financial impact to those already in hardship. We must consider these people when trying to balance out budgets.”