With the town referendum on May 17, First Selectman Michael Freda again urged residents to pass North Haven’s proposed $84.09 million budget for fiscal year 2011-12.

“I would encourage everyone to vote yes,” Freda said May 9 at a sparsely-attended town meeting on the budget, held in North Haven High School’s auditorium. “As the First Selectman of North Haven, I endorse this budget.”

Overall, the proposed $84.09 million budget represents a 1.2 percent increase, or $987,519 jump, over the current budget of $83.1 million. “This is what we need,” Freda said of the suggested figure. “We’re being very candid.”

Should voters approve the budget, North Haven’s mill rate will increase by .35, bumping the current mill rate of 26.18 up to 26.53. As the average assessed home value in town is $211,854, Freda said, such a change would equate to an average annual tax increase of $70 for each household.

Representing 52 percent of the proposed 2011-12 budget, education’s portion is $44.39 million, a $439,664 or one percent increase over the current school funding of $43.95 million. The municipal portion is $39.7 million, a $550,000 or 1.4 percent hike from the current figure of $39.15 million.

Without factoring in a 62.8 percent increase in capital spending, Freda said, the town side rises by only 0.1 percent. “We will be reinvesting back into North Haven with our capital needs,” he said.

Originally, capital requests came in at $2.7 million, which the Board of Finance trimmed to $1.29 million. “If we didn’t have capital needs, this overall budget would represent a decrease,” Freda said. “The capital requests reflect needed services.”

Such capital items include $80,000 for police department cruisers, $25,000 for roads and drainage projects and $425,000 for a fire truck to replace a volunteer department vehicle with water pump problems. A new sanitation packer truck will cost the town $205,000. “We really need this packer truck to maintain services and a timely pickup schedule across town,” Freda said.

Another capital expenditure is a $38,000 upgrade for building department permit software. “This will allow for greater efficiency in the building department permit process,” Freda has said. “I believe that this will pay for itself within two years. It sophisticates the process. It is a good investment for town.”

During the past snowy winter, North Haven’s salt shed collapsed in stormy conditions, necessitating a $70,000 rebuilding project. A new backhoe has a price tag of $110,000.

Partially offsetting costs, Freda stated, are multiple sources of savings, including a four-percent decrease in municipal employee health insurance, renegotiation of bond debt, eliminated town hall positions, re-bidding of general liability and worker’s compensation and shifting payroll services in-house. “The cost-saving measures we put in place over the last 13 months are manifesting themselves now,” Freda said.

Moreover, North Haven’s $8.4 million, or 10.04 percent, unappropriated fund balance will be decreased. “We have committed to the public that the fund balance will be taken down to eight percent, and the difference will be used to mitigate the tax burden in town,” Freda said.

At eight percent, North Haven’s fund balance will equal $6.8 million. “Eight percent is where our auditors say it should be,” Freda said.

Resident Ann Ruocco will still vote ‘no.’ “I am not voting ‘yes’ on this budget,” she said during public comment at the town meeting. “I am not against the capital expenditures. We need them . . . I just feel that they’re driving up the expenses, and we must fund them in a different way.”

“It just seems to me that for a town with such a strong industrial base, we should not have this high of a tax rate,” she added.

Resident Julie Bossenberry favored budget approval. “As a taxpayer, I feel that my tax dollars are being well-spent,” she said. “I am voting ‘yes’ for this budget.”

Resident Gary Amato asked whether town officials had received final figures from Connecticut’s state budget. “The numbers I got are pretty solid,” replied North Haven finance director Ed Swinkowski. “The only one still in question is the sales tax and real estate conveyance.”

The referendum is Tuesday, May 17. Polling will be held at North Haven’s four elementary schools and the Recreational Center.