On March 22, the Board of Finance (BOF) met at Westport’s Town Hall to discuss the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The panel consisted of Helen Garten, Edward Iannone, Avi Kaner, Brian Stern, Allyson Stollenwerck, Kenneth Wirfel, and Tom Lasersohn; while members of the audience included representatives of different departments from the town of Westport’s community.

The idea of consolidation between the town and the Board of Education (BOE), in hopes of reducing costs by sharing resources and operating more efficiently was discussed.

“We cannot force either the schools or the town to adopt our policies. Our panel is only to approve or reduce [departmental budgets],” Garten said.  Garten added that without a plan or a way to enforce consolidation, the focus should stay on approving or reducing the budget.

Motions were put on the table to reduce budgets of several departments, specifically salaries. Kaner reminded the panel and audience that the Town of Westport spends $13 million on pensions and retirement funds, and another 20 million dollars on salaries.

The panel voted on matters for personnel, which the motion passed seven to zero to reduce the budget by $ 50,000. A $250 increase in the registrar department was voted four to three.

No changes were made to departments of the selectman, Probate Court, Elections and Board of Finance Budgets. However, there was conversation on how much to reduce the Finance Department’s budget by.