The Board of Finance last week snipped $167,000 from an $82 million budget that will go to a town meeting on Monday, May 12 and referendum Tuesday, May 20.

The board chose not to change a plan to use $1.68 million of town's savings to pay for capital improvement projects, a plan that has concerned many residents, including Selectman Michael Freda. Freda said he was worried the town's savings account balance would fall too low if the money was spent.

"I'm worried about being able to pay for any emergencies that may arise as we had to do this past year," Freda said. "And I'm worried about our bond rating. Bonding companies want to see a certain percentage of our budget in savings, and this will drop us significantly below what they want to see."

Richard Monico, a Republican finance board member, agreed with Freda at last week's meeting, saying he thought reducing the fund balance to $5.4 million in order to pay for capital expenses wasn't wise.

Board Chairman Dean Volain said he thought the budget was "fair. It's what departments need to operate" with no extra fat. He said he didn't know what the town would do if the budget were rejected, including whether or not the town would use a portion of the fund balance to reduce the operating budget.

The board was able to cut the $167,000 because of money it anticipates saving in health insurance costs and increased revenue from delinquent taxes.

People have expressed concern over the size of the budget because it's been a bit unclear how their property taxes would be affected, but First Selectman Janet M. McCarty said revaluation has made it more complex an equation.

"This is the third and final year of the phase-in of revaluation," she said. "So everyone's taxes will be affected differently because the value of people's homes will be different. People need to take the final revaluation of their home and multiply it by the mill rate to find out how their taxes will be affected, and it will be different for everyone because the value of homes changed individually."

The proposed budget would generate a mill rate of 23.5.

In addition to concern over the increase in taxes, residents expressed support for a proposal from the fire department to fund a paramedic program, but the Board of Finance decided to delay adding it to this year's budget. Instead, Fire Chief Vincent Landisio will apply for a federal grant that could pay for hiring fire fighters trained as paramedics.

The proposed budget will be discussed at a second town meeting May 12 at 7 p.m. at North Haven High School, 221 Elm St., prior to the May 20 referendum.