By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(May 14, 2026) To balance the Town of Berlin’s fiscal year 2027 general fund budget — a spending plan that had been facing a $280,000 shortfall this week — the Town Council on Monday axed the proposal to replace an old public works truck and postponed a street paving project.

Despite the Berlin Town Council’s successful effort last month to reduce a projected $400,000 general budget shortfall to $48,000, a revised spending plan was back on the agenda at the town’s meeting Monday night, with an anticipated deficit of $280,000.

In April, the council had whittled away at proposed expenditures to balance the budget without raising the property tax rate. At that time, the council members eliminated $245,000 in spending from the public works department, $18,000 from a proposed half-a-percent cost-of-living increase for town staff, $45,000 from a small truck for economic development, $20,000 for a new playground climber, $11,900 for Independence Day fireworks, and $50,000 for the planning legal consultant.

From public works, the council looked to cut a CAT skid loader for $20,000, a Ford F550 for $115,000, a Ford F250 to replace an aging F150 for $65,000, a salt-and-brine attachment for $25,000, and a zero-turn mower for $20,000.

The council also said last month that they wanted to remove emergency preparedness radios at a cost of $10,500. Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall, however, was hesitant to do away with the devices. Instead, the $10,500 will be used as a budget contingency and, if not used, will be returned to the radios.

But some of the previously cut items reappeared in the budget this week, with Berlin Finance Director Natalie Saleh saying she reviewed the spending plan and proposed her own eliminations and adjustments.

The public works trucks, for instance, were reinstated.

Public Works Director Jimmy Charles said that the two vehicles needing replacement are a 2o01 dump truck and a 2003 truck, both of which are aging out of their useful life. Charles maintained that while the vehicles aren’t high-mileage, they’re being constantly run, leading to their deterioration.

For example, the public works director explained that the trucks’ rocker panels and floorboards are rusted, and the seats need repairs.

“We have done what we can for these trucks,” he said. “We have run them until the wheels are falling off.”

Councilman Jack Orris asked about the possibility of replacing the vehicles with used models rather than brand-new ones. The mayor and town staff emphasized this practice could be risky.

“You buy something used, you never know what you’re going to get,” said Tim Lawrence, the outgoing electric utility director. “[One truck], within six months of buying it, we started having issues.”

Charles noted that one of the old trucks is used for salting roads in the winter. Without a functioning vehicle, his team could be delayed in returning icy streets to drivable condition.

Councilmember Steve Green expressed his frustrations that items the council agreed to remove from the budget last month were reinstated in the spending plan. He asked what the mayor and staff’s suggestion was to balance the budget, given that the majority of the governing body has said they will not vote to raise the property tax rate.

“Two weeks ago, by consensus, those two vehicles were cut up here,” Green said. “And I understand staff and administration pushing back on it. I could be swayed to say it’s needed… if the consensus cuts were made, what is the proposal to balance the budget from the administration and the mayor’s office if a tax increase is off the table? Four people said last week that a tax increase will not be voted on. We have a $280,000 deficit. Those two vehicles together are $180,000…We’re saying we’re not cuttable anymore, but what’s the plan?”

Tyndall maintained that his job as the mayor is to ensure the municipality can provide necessary services.

“When you say it’s cut by consensus and then it’s back here, it’s back here because we heard you, we tried to put it through the push-ups to see if it’s something that can truly be removed without impact, and it can’t be,” he said.

He added that a solution to the deficit is to draw from reserves. Still, he noted that this isn’t a sustainable financial practice and pushed again for the council to consider the proposed tax increases of a penny and a quarter of a penny.

 While later rejected at Monday’s meeting, the proposed rate hike would have set the real property tax at 84 cents per $100 of assessed value, an increase from the current rate of $0.8275 per $100 of assessed value. The increase would have generated $5.3 million in revenue for the town, or an increase of about $80,000.

For a $500,000 home, the new rate would cost residents an additional $5 per month, or $60 per year.

At the conclusion of the lengthy discussion, the council agreed to a solution proposed by Saleh and Charles that ultimately resulted in a balanced FY27 budget.

To address the $280,000 shortfall, the Ford F250 at $65,000 was removed from the proposed spending plan, and a paving project for Esham Avenue, estimated at $225,000, will be postponed to fiscal year 2028.

However, Saleh noted that the price tag for the Esham Avenue project is not up to date and that the cost is likely to increase the longer the town waits.

The council also agreed to maintain the 2.5% step increase for staff salaries, plus a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment.