What to know about Canterbury’s proposed budget for 2026

Canterbury officials are seeking $3.6 million to fund municipal operations, a 3.4% increase over last year’s budget.

Town leaders presented the budget at a sparsely attended public hearing Monday night.

The proposed budget carries a total tax impact of $5.03, which is about $2,000 a year for taxpayers who own a $400,000 home.

If voters were to pass all the town’s warrant articles, the budget would total $4,447,164 with several hundred-thousand dollars of offsets.

The proposed budget for 2025 accounts for increases in health insurance, recycling, outside auditing and legal fees — both planning board and general municipal legal fees.

Relative to law enforcement, the town is looking to set aside more money for police overtime and officer wages, despite having spent significantly less on wages last year than was anticipated.

The budget hearing saw few public comments.

The proposed budget reduces the line-item for police and fire off-duty details to $1. Town Administrator Ken Folsom described those amounts as “placeholders,” given the fluid nature of safety details and two warrant articles that create revolving funds for each department’s off-duty details.

“We typically put some money in there — we don’t know how much we’re going to get from off-duty details, so it’s hard to determine,” Folsom said in response to a resident’s question. “This moves it out of the operating budget into a separate account, so it cleans up the operating budget.”

Canterbury will hold the first session of town meeting, or voting day, at Old Town Hall from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10. The second session, where residents will vote on warrant articles, will start at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 13 at the Canterbury Elementary School.

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