Lyme Voters to Weigh $14.23 Million Budget and Extra Snow Removal Costs at Town Meeting, May 21

LYME, CT –  Voters at Lyme’s Annual Town Meeting on May 21 will be asked to approve the proposed $14.23 million budget for 2026-27 and consider an additional appropriation to cover highway costs incurred during the unusually snowy winter. 

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Lyme Town Hall, 480 Hamburg Road. 

The $119,000 supplemental appropriation covers snow removal and truck repairs resulting from what the meeting notice described as “extraordinary winter conditions.”  The town originally allocated $41,000 for highway spending. 

The Board of Finance’s proposed budget, approved in April, is up $2.86 million from the current year. Finance board members agreed to use $2.5 million from the town’s reserves to keep the tax rate steady at 14.50 mills. 

The finance board will set the tax rate after voters act on the budget.

The proposed town operating budget, which includes general government, education and debt service, comes in at $11.34 million. That’s an increase of $506,472, or 4.67%, over current spending. Education costs, which at $7.02 million comprise the largest portion of the town budget, are up 0.83%.  

The overall budget increase is driven largely by a $2.88 million capital spending plan. That’s up $2.35 million from the current year’s “uncharacteristically light” spending, according to finance board Chairman Alan Sheiness. 

Sheiness has attributed much of the jump to the $1.7 million Beaver Brook Road culvert replacement project, about half of which is expected to be reimbursed in a future budget year. The capital budget also includes funding for two new town trucks as well as public safety communications equipment.

A proposed budget summary is available on the town’s website.