ROCKPORT — The Rockport Select Board will convene this evening at 6 p.m. for a workshop on the 2026-2027 proposed budget. They will have in hand the town's Budget Committee's recommendations made at its last meeting, March 25. Those recommendations included trimming some expenditures and adding funds for regionalization efforts, as well as to establish a program to measure municipal progress toward reaching goals.

The latter concerns spending $25,000 on a Key Performance Indicator program. The idea was discussed toward the end of the March 25 meeting and suggested by Committee member Stephen Bowen.

"We are well overdue given the growth of town, budget, employees," he said.

There are currently 43 municipal staff members.

According to Penn State's Planning, Assessment and Institutional Research department, KPIs are, "checkpoints used to determine effective or successful progress toward an organization’s desired outcomes, evaluated over a specific timeframe, and compared against past performance. A KPI is a measure of performance that focuses the organization’s attention on what matters most for the success of its Objectives."

The Budget Committee also added $10,000 to the budget for purposes of governmental regionalization with neighboring municipalities.

The commitee voted to cut the new Director of Public Services position. That newjob, with a salary of $121,418, plus benefits, had been endorsed by Town Manager Jon Duke and some members on the Select Board and Budget Committee. 

After a long and frank conversation March 25, the committee voted 6 to 2 against the proposal, with members saying they wanted more definition of the position's duties.

The committee did, however, add $25,000 for engineering consultation to help with anticipated projects.

With other proposed expenditures, the committee voted to cut $25,000 targeted for a raised crosswalk across Central Street in Rockport Village and added $3,000 to paint lines better defining the crosswalk area.

Other recommendations included cutting $45,000 to repair a short section of the Russell Avenue (Rockport Village) sidewalk. Committee members suggested the town explore replacing that section of the sidewalk next year when Russell Ave. is due for repairs. Others suggested exploring the cost of granite/asphalt construction for the sake of durability.

After talking with Public Works Director Mike Young about the possibility of repairing the town's loader, they agreed to remove the $30,783 purchase of a new loader.

The Budget Committee recommended retaining a contractor to mow the town-owned parks, instead moving the job under the purview of Public Works. The committee reinserted $28,079 to cover the contractor cost.

At a vote of 5 to 3, the committee cut $119,221 from the Police Department budget, which would have covered the cost of the town hiring a seventh municipal police officer. But, they reinserted $88,580 to pay for overtime of current police staff to fill the gaps.

The net change of the budget reductions from the overall proposed $12.7 million budget, according to Rockport Finance Director Megan Brackett, was $161,263. 

This evening's workshop of the Select Board will begin at 6 p.m. at the Geoffrey Parker Meeting Room at the Rockport Opera House.

After the Select Board finalizes its budget, the Budget Committee will meet April 1 and vote on on the Select Board's budget.